Back to Future: Investa Again Plots Offices for MLC Building

Investa Property Group has done a U-turn on its plans for the first highrise on the North Sydney skyline. Investa had proposed that the MLC Building, at 105-153 Miller Street, be converted to build-to-rent. However, Investa is now reverting to its commercial plans, having previously wanted to redevelop the site into a new office building under a $500-million proposal filed and then rejected by the North Sydney Council in 2021 . The 16-storey tower was designed by Bates Smart and McCutcheon, and completed in 1957, “constructed in an era when the decentralisation of cities was beginning and new buildings symbolised progression”. Despite its architectural significance, the “condition and performance of the building has experienced substantial deterioration over the past 67 years”, according to the current application, including its structural integrity, and it has been vacant since March, 2022, “unable to meet tenant demands of the contemporary office market”. Investa’s original 2021 plans to demolish and redevelop the site with a 27-storey A-grade office tower of 74,000sq m of lettable area were met with uproar. There were calls for the building to be added to the state heritage list and Investa was forced to plead its case before the Land and Environment Court . In May, 2023, the court dismissed that appeal and Investa recognised there needed to be “an appropriate balance between heritage conservation and the need for additional leasable space”. ▲ A render of the proposed redevelopment of the MLC Building as seen from Miller Street. After that legal stoush, and the relisting of the building on the state heritage register in 2023, Investa changed its plans, filing a proposal to convert the tower into build-to-rent apartments. The commercial developer planned to turn the building into a mixed-use project of 340 apartments and 2500sq m of retail, converting rather than demolishing the landmark. A new building, however, would create more leasable floor area, “needed to ensure the viability of the site into the future and to help fund the major costly restoration work”, Investa’s development application said. Now, $364.7-million plans have been filed with the North Sydney Council that backtrack on that residential proposal and look again to create commercial space. ▲ The modernist post-war international-style tower by architects Bates Smart and McCutcheon has been vacant since 2022. The development application filed last month details the partial demolition of the site, including the full demolition of the Denison Street wing, central core structure and the pavilion on the north-west corner of Miller Street, and partial demolition of the Miller Street wing and basement. The rest of the Miller Street wing would be restored and adaptively reused under the latest plans, heightening the finished ground-floor level to provide flood protection, and to accommodate a near-double height lobby. A new 22-storey Denison Street wing would be built with ground level retail and office uses above. In total the project would deliver 38,743sq m of commercial, 2889sq m of retail, and 644sq m of event spaces. ▲ A new central core will also be built, and the basement reconfigured. The two wings of the proposed development would sit above the shared basement and a one-to-two-storey podium. “The project seeks to honour the building’s legacy while preserving its heritage value,” the development application from Beam said. “The retention of the existing Miller Street wing, combined with the construction of the new Denison Street wing, will strike a harmonious balance between preserving the building’s traditional elements and introducing contemporary and innovative design features.”

Back to Future: Investa Again Plots Offices for MLC Building

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