Hickory Plots Dropping Office from Melbourne Scheme

Hickory wants to more than double the height and pivot from commercial to residential for its plans at the former Kilkenny Inn and Goldfingers site at Melbourne’s King Street. The developer has filed an application to amend a planning permit from an approved office tower into a 48-storey building of 467 apartments for the site at 248-250 and 256-260 King Street and 572-574 Lonsdale Street. According to the planning report, the proposed development’s address would be 580 Lonsdale Street. Hickory Group chief executive Michael Argyrou is listed as the director of 572 Lonsdale Pty Ltd, which has filed the amended application. It seeks to change the land use from office to residential and is now awaiting a decision from the state planning minister. “As a Melbourne-born company, we see enormous potential in the city’s western CBD,” Argyrou told The Urban Developer . The 1755sq m site had initial approval for a 21-storey office building granted in August 2021. That scheme, designed by Cox Architects, included office space across multiple levels with terraces on the first, second, sixth and tenth floors, along with 623sq m of retail space split between ground and first floor tenancies. Plans were subsequently amended twice, in October 2021 and July 2022, before a fire damaged the site in May 2022. The 100-year-old Kilkenny Inn facade was saved, however the roof and middle of the building collapsed in what was suspected to be an arson attack. According to the planning application, the revised FK-designed proposal would rise to 48 storeys and would comprise 467 apartments. Studio apartments would account for 128 units, 208 would be of one bedroom, 119 of two and 12 would be three-bedroom units. The tower would include 621sq m of retail space and 955sq m of office space. Ground-floor retail tenancies would activate the King Street and Lonsdale Street frontages. ▲ A rendering of the 48-storey tower proposed for 580 Lonsdale Street. Communal amenities would include a wellness centre, cinema, gym and outdoor terraces, with 518sq m of landscaped communal spaces on levels two and 12 offering residents shared recreational areas above street level. The proposal also includes 79 residential carparking spaces, well below the maximum 467 spaces permitted under planning provisions. The site’s three basement levels would house building services and the residential carparking spaces as well as 145 bicycle parking spaces. The Kilkenny Inn heritage building, at the corner of Lonsdale and King streets, would be retained and adaptively reused in line with the site’s Conservation Management Plan. The historic pub’s facade would be integrated into the tower’s ground floor presentation, preserving the corner’s heritage character, Argyrou said. “The planning amendments reflect our commitment to delivering much-needed housing, while also helping shape a more connected and liveable city through retail activation and our contributions to the public realm,” Argyrou said. Pedestrian connectivity would be enhanced through the incorporation of Gough Alley and a new pedestrian link extending Manton Lane as a shared zone with unrestricted access. Hickory’s focus on adaptive reuse has led to the company establishing h-adapt as a dedicated division to handle heritage preservation and building repurposing projects. Though not attached to this particular project, the division targets ageing building stock across office, hotel and mixed-use sectors as construction costs and sustainability requirements drive increased interest in renovation over new construction.

Hickory Plots Dropping Office from Melbourne Scheme

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