Serviced ApartmentsChris ThomsonTue 23 Jun 26
Five-Storey Car Park, BtR Axed from Canberra’s Lovett Tower Adaption
A five-storey car park and long-term rental accomodation have been excised from the planned adaptation of a 24-storey office tower that was once Canberra’s tallest building.
The 93m-tall Lovett Tower—formerly known as MLC Tower—in the Woden town centre is a major landmark in Canberra’s southern suburbs.
Plans filed on behalf of landholder The Tower Canberra Pty Ltd, whose director is Parramatta-based Frank Cavassini, propose a five-storey car park once envisaged for levels one to five of the building be replaced by serviced apartments and short-term rental accommodation.
If approved, those levels, and levels six to 12, would house studio units, with common areas on each floor. Level 13 would be a mechanical plant floor and recreation space, while levels 14 to 22 would contain two-bedroom short-term units.
The ground floor would house commercial tenancies as it has in the past and a mezzanine floor would have amenities to support the short-term accommodation.
In 2022, converting levels six to 22 of the office tower into short-term accommodation, and levels one to five to a car park (with prominent external access ramps) was approved. An application to adapt some of the office space to long-term rental apartments was refused.
Down through the decades, Lovett Tower has been occupied by branches of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Environment and Veterans’ Affairs. The building’s current name was bestowed to honour the Lovett family, of Victoria’s Gunditjmara people, of which at least 15 members have served in Australia’s defence forces.
The tower was Canberra’s tallest office, hotel or apartment building from when it was completed in 1974 until 2020 when High Society Towers 1 and 2 were completed at Belconnen in northern Canberra.
In 1980 the prominent white building was overshadowed, figuratively, by Telecom’s 195m-tall telecommunication tower and observatory that stands atop the 812m-high Black Mountain in central Canberra.
Lovett Tower has endured high vacancy rates over the past decade, with government tenants departing in droves for up-to-date digs.
With the five-level car park has now been expunged from plans, the tower’s exterior would remain unchanged.
Frank Cavassini chairs Hunter Investment Corporation that owns the Hunter economic zone outside Cessnock in New South Wales, billed by the corporation as Australia’s largest masterplanned industrial estate. His LinkedIn page said he has been national president of Australia’s Ferrari club. He was contacted for comment for this story.
