Developer Fiveight’s plans to convert a derelict mall in the Perth CBD into a $400-million precinct have been approved.
Fiveight is a vehicle of mining boss Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest.
The 5724sq m site at 692 and 674 Hay Street Mall, the abandoned Carillon City shopping centre, is one of the biggest in the WA capital’s CBD.
In an assessment timeframe that would likely make east coast developers green with envy, the Metro Inner Development Assessment Panel on May 20 conditionally approved the project about four months after it was filed with the City of Perth.
Fiveight’s plan comprises a 238-key hotel across a 22-storey building and a 35-storey, 803-unit purpose-built student accommodation.
The approved plan was an upsizing of the original scheme for a 30-storey PBSA and 17-storey hotel.
The recommendation report to the panel said that the “significant scale” of the development meant it was capable of “injecting significant activity and life into the centre of Perth”.
The precinct’s four-storey podium will comprise food, beverage and retail outlets, and will provide a public link between Hay and Murray street malls and Forrest Place.
The lower and upper ground floors will have retail and dining tenancies, as well as lobbies for the student accommodation and hotel components.
There will be 24 tenant carparking bays in the basement.
It will create a “a livelier atmosphere for Perth”, according to the recommendation, while the DAP said it would change the character of Forrest Place.
A builder for the development is yet to be revealed.
While the scheme was generally supported by the council and public, the panel meeting was told by complainants that the project was “too large” and that the PBSA element was inappropriate.
The site has had a long development history. City Arcade, in the east of the block, was built in 1970 while the Carillon Arcade at the west opened in 1982.
In 1998, owners Multiplex and Hawaiian Property Group consolidated the arcades to create Carillon City. Reconstruction works were undertaken in 2014 to develop a two-level tenancy.
Multiplex offloaded the site in 2016 to Dexus for $140 million, which began a redevelopment process including plans filed in 2019 for a 24-storey office tower on the site.
Dexus ended up offloading the site to Forrest’s investment group Tattarang and its property development arm, Fiveight, in 2022 for $80 million.
