Council Approves Fortis’s South Melbourne Offices

Another office tower will soon be part of South Melbourne’s streetscape as the City of Port Phillip grants Fortis planning approval. 

Fortis proposed a seven-storey office project at the 700sq m site at 122 Moray Street, South Melbourne.

Fender Katsalidis designed the plans which include 3795sq m of net lettable area of Grade A office space, retail spaces on the ground floor, a winter garden, terraces and end-of-trip facilities.

The site also has three street frontages.

Construction is scheduled to start in October 2023.

Fortis bought the site at the end of 2021 for $9.25 million.

The development will be funded by Pallas Capital, which sits under Fortis’s parent company, Pallas Group.

It is expected to cost $50 million.

Clarendon Street, Coventry Street, the South Melbourne Market, the future Anzac train station and the St Kilda Road Precinct are all close to the site, which is 2km over the Yarra River from the CBD.

▲ Fortis also recently received planning permission for the 5 Wiltshire Street project at Richmond.

Fortis director Charles Mellick said that office projects in the Melbourne CBD fringe suburbs still made sense to develop.

“The demand for premium office space in city-fringe areas such as Cremorne and South Melbourne continues to remain robust, with businesses displaying a clear preference for offices closer to where they live,” Mellick said.

“We have seen evidence of this activity through our own projects, as well as some major deals in the industry over the last year, which has informed the commercial project activity at Fortis.”

Pallas Capital has arranged 408 transactions with a total value of more than $2.9 billion.

Fortis has also recently secured $142 million in funding from banks for some of its projects.

Another Fortis project at 5 Wiltshire Street in Richmond was approved this year and another site in South Melbourne at 162-172 Clarendon Street is awaiting approval.