Tower Planned for ACT Site Sold for First Time in 50 Years

More than 100 apartments are planned for a central Canberra site that has changed hands for the first time in 50 years.

Liebke and Co—a Canberra-based and family real estate and property investment firm—acquired the site at 90 Northbourne Avenue, Braddon after a self-described “lengthy process” to secure it, ending five decades of joint ownership.

Proposed for the site is an eight-storey tower, to be called Ahlei, comprising 105 apartments including five penthouses atop a ground of retail and office space, plus basement parking below.

Cox Architecture, who has worked with Liebke and Co on previous projects, has designed the plans for tower, which is near heritage-listed Haig Park.

Liebke and Co have submitted a development application for the project with the ACT government.

▲ A render of another ACT project by Liebke and Co; DKSN, an A-grade office building on Challis Street, Dickinson.

Chief executive Rowan Liebke said they had “identified a current and upcoming lack of supply for high-income, well-capitalised professionals who are looking to make a second or third property purchase”.

“With significant buying power and financial capacity, these buyers are experiencing a lack of choice for a new apartment within a five-minute walk to well-known Lonsdale Street and everything else this hip suburb has to offer,” he said.

Pending approval, construction is slated to begin mid-2024 with completion due for 2026.

A low-rise residential building currently on the site would be demolished to make way for the development.

Liebke and Co also has a number of developments in the works on the Gold Coast and NSW South Coast.