ApartmentsClare BurnettThu 05 Nov 26
Fortis Reworks Failed Developer’s Richmond Site with Two-Tower Plan
The development arm of Pallas Capital wants to build the towers at 550 and 556 Swan Street, on two adjoining lots totalling 2915sq m about 6km east of Melbourne CBD.
According to ASIC documents, the development vehicle, 550 Swan Street Developments Pty Ltd, is directed by Pallas Capital chief investment officer Daniel Gallen, Pallas Capital executive chairman Patrick Keenan and Fortis executive director Charles Mellick.
The first tower, at 550 Swan Street, would reach 15 storeys, while the second, at 556 Swan Street, would rise 13 storeys.
The buildings would be “visually connected” by a central recessed bridge and sit around a central courtyard, with a basement car park providing 237 spaces.
Designed by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, the project would combine ground-floor food and drink tenancies, commercial offices across levels 1 and 2 and apartments above.
A shared communal amenity zone, including meeting rooms, kitchens and breakout spaces, would occupy the office levels, with further residential amenities on level 3 and the rooftop of the 556 Swan Street building.
The apartment mix would comprise 40 one, 103 two and 26 three-bedroom apartments, alongside nine three-bedroom penthouses.
The site is in precinct 4, the Burnley Station section of the Swan Street Activity Centre, an area undergoing “significant change” with taller developments under construction, according to the planning report.
The 550 Swan Street site is occupied by a two-storey warehouse that had been converted into a showroom and offices. The adjoining 556 Swan Street property is home to an early learning centre.
The former was owned by the now-defunct Melbourne developer The Residences Company, which went into receivership in 2024, with KordaMentha appointed as receivers.
They put the 550 Swan Street address on the market, and Fortis acquired the site for a reported $13.6 million.
The Residences Company was ordered into liquidation in August 2025 after builder Merkon Constructions launched legal action over $2.55 million in unpaid bills.
A Supreme Court case earlier this year revealed that company founder Mark Oman had accumulated $39 million in debt to lender Monland, which had attempted to enforce his personal guarantee.
The judge reportedly dismissed Oman’s claims that the lender had agreed to wipe the debt on the condition of a property sale.
The proposed Swan Street development is 1km east of Fortis’s flagship Richmond Square development on Wiltshire Street, which was approved for a 57-key hotel earlier this year, replacing a previously approved office scheme.
