This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Melbourne City Council has approved a new 17-storey tower at the top of Elizabeth St that will be the new headquarters of biotech firm CSL, and form part of PDG’s planned $750 million biomedical and educational precinct development on the former Melford Motors site.
Rising 86 metres, the tower will stretch well beyond the preferred height limit for the area of 60 metres, but Council considers the research and development benefits to outweigh the planning requirements.
CSL will occupy 35,000 sqm in the tower, abutting the Haymarket roundabout on the northern edge of the CBD, opposite the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre and the hospitals precinct, and close to Melbourne University.
The headquarters is due to open in 2024 with 800 workers relocating from existing campuses on Poplar Road, Parkville and Docklands.
CSL will join Trinity College, which signed a 25-year term earlier this year to open a new 9,500 sqm vertical campus within the precinct, as well as Toyota, which committed to a 15,000 sqm lease for 55 years. CSL’s term is 20 years with options to 60 years.
Toyota sold the dealership at 611-681 Elizabeth St to PDG two years ago, when the site was slated for a four-tower project with 310 apartments, nearly 700 student accommodation units, and around 5,200 sqm of commercial space.
PDG owns the development across stages one and two. The future precinct will also be built across the adjoining Bob Jane T-Mart site and include three towers set for completion by the middle of 2022.
