Telstra Pushing Ahead With Plans For $1bn Melbourne Office Tower

have confirmed that their plans to transform a building on Melbourne’s Exhibition Street into a 70,000 square meter $1 billion tower will go ahead, despite expected delays tipped by property executives.

The news of the tower’s confirmation comes after rumours surfaced questioning if Telstra would scrap plans to redevelop the building.

Telstra spokeswoman Catherine Harris recently dismissed these claims as market scuttlebutt, stating that all options were still on the table.

“This project is not on hold. We have communicated to participants that we are currently reviewing the proposals received for the redevelopment of our Exhibition Street property to ensure we have considered all options for the site. This is standard for proposals of this scale and was communicated well before recent leadership decisions were made,” Ms Harris said.

The race for Telstra to develop the billion dollar tower has been hot news on the property development agenda after Telstra Chief Executive, David Thodey last week announced he would step down from his position to be replaced by Chief Financial Officer, Andy Penn from May 1st 2015.

Pending concerns that the newly appointed Chief Executive would not front the incurring costs of the tower, The Australian also reported that Daniel Grollo’s

and partner

had won a new offshore financer to pick up a stake in the landmark project.

GPT Group and its wholesale office fund were last year named as a potential partner for the Grocon and UBS alliance, which is going head to head with favourite Lend Lease for the right to build the tower.

Regardless of the result, the transaction appears on track for Telstra and the development is set as a precedent for Melbourne’s blue chip towers.