Fortis’ $50m South Melbourne Office Tower Wins Approval

Fortis has secured planning approval for its next project in Melbourne’s CBD-fringe office market.

The Fieldwork Architecture-designed project is proposed for a 855sq m site at 34 Eastern Road, South Melbourne, with an estimated end value of $50 million.

The eight-storey tower will comprise 3830sq m of office space over the seven floors with 252sq m of retail space on the ground floor.

Amenities will include two levels of basement parking, end-of-trip facilities, a gym, sauna rooms and bathroom suites as well as terraces landscaped by Openwork.

Fortis director Charles Mellick said people were keen on city-fringe office spaces.

“City-fringe properties such as 34 Eastern Road are becoming increasingly desirable by organisations as their employees seek to work closer to where they live and socialise,” Mellick said.

“The development is a response to the strong demand for premium boutique offices that offer enviable composition of location, quality and amenities.”

South Melbourne is proving a popular location for office developments due in part to its proximity to the CBD and St Kilda Road office precinct plus access to major roads. 

The Eastern Road site is near the site of the Anzac Station, part of the under-construction Melbourne Metro Rail project, the Coventry Street and Clarendon Street retail districts, and the South Melbourne Market. 

Fortis paid about $12 million for the the site in 2021.

Construction is scheduled to start in June, 2022 with completion due in the last quarter of 2023.

Fortis is the development arm of the Pallas Group—Pallas Capital provides funding for its projects.

The developer currently has a pipeline of approximately $3 billion under construction or in the planning nationally. 

Fortis and Marprop recently announced plans to revamp the Neville Gruzman-designed Gaden House at 24 Bay Street in Double Bay, its second heritage building project.

Fortis has invested heavily in Melbourne’s office fringe market recently, picking up sites in Richmond and South Melbourne, the latter close to the Eastern Road site, at 122-132 Moray Street, for which it paid $10 million.

The Richmond site at 1 Little Lesney Street in Richmond was bought for $16 million. Fortis owns the site next door at 8 Brighton Street, with a $115-million project in the works.