Bend, Not Break: Flexibility Key to PDG’s Queens Bridge Skyscraper

The developer behind a Southbank skyscraper scheme says it’s staying flexible in the face of the builder and project manager collapses plaguing the sector in Victoria. Developer PDG announced mid last year it had paid $85 million for the Queens Bridge Hotel site at 1-29 Queens Bridge Street in the Melbourne highrise hotspot from global alternative asset manager Blackstone. Blackstone had acquired that site as part of its $8.9-billion Crown Casino assets deal in 2022. PDG acquisition was ahead of the collapse of builder Roberts and Co’s Victorian entity as well as the news breaking that Beulah’s SthBnk project would need new management and possibly new owners. With an eye on those dramas, PDG was keen to future-proof its project by carefully planning how to redevelop the site. The Cox Architecture-designed plans filed with the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning propose a 67-storey tower of 483 apartments. Despite that composition, PDG has been approached by operators keen on a hotel to be included. The developer is not ruling that, nor a build-to-rent component, out of its plans. PDG development director Sebastian Mahoney says that although there are no such components in the plans currently, “We would potentially explore [that], if it helps complement the residential offering”. “There’s obviously flexibility to look at different uses within that tower depending on what makes sense at the time,” Mahoney tells The Urban Developer . That includes office spaces within a 11-storey podium as well as food and beverage tenancies for the project it has estimated will cost $450 million to develop. And basement levels are not part of the plans either. Instead, planned for the podium are 631 carparking bays, and 670 bicycle storage spaces plus end-of-trip facilities. ▲ Cox Architecture’s rendering of PDG’s One Queens Bridge project showing the retained heritage hotel. “We’ve not gone with a basement ... we have had a bit of advice based on past experience with projects in the area where we’re basically focusing all the uses from ground and above,” Mahoney says. “All of the apartments have at least one carpark ... we will be allocating two carparks for larger apartments. “When you’re selling apartments, most people, we’ve found, want at least a carpark with their dwelling.” It’s a choice that flies in the face of the carpark reduction trend developers are increasingly asking of the City of Melbourne as the city transitions to more public transport and cycling. PDG is no stranger to Melbourne’s Southbank—the Queens Bridge Hotel site is its third venture in the suburb that also hosts projects by Gurner, Gamuda, Local, Greystar, and Capitol Alliance. Its first project in Southbank, the 72-storey Prima Tower, is next to the Queens Bridge Hotel, and was completed in 2014 by Multiplex. Move further south to 132 Kavanagh Street and PDG’s Boyd Village build-to-rent project is nearly complete. Investa’s build-to-rent platform, Indi, is ready to take over operations when the doors open. That project includes a community facility that will be handed over to the City of Melbourne Council as well as 434 build-to-rent apartments. “We’re giving them back an actual council facility within the ground level and level one,” Mahoney says. “They are hoping to start potentially activating those spaces, and then that ... connects nicely to the Boyd library, the cafe and other community services that the city provides within the existing heritage building.” ▲ PDG is developing the Boyd Village project for Investa ’ s build-to-rent platform, Indi, at 132 Kavanagh Street in Melbourne’s Southbank. Boyd Village is not the developer’s only build-to-rent project—in West Melbourne, PDG has applied for an amended planning permit for a 105-unit project at 137 Adderley Street while construction is due to start on a 291-unit scheme at 577 King Street in the second half of this year. “We are really looking to do things not in ... a ‘bigger is always better’ way,” Mahoney says. “We’re looking at the quality outcome for the project and how that can be delivered ultimately in a feasible way.” Mahoney is confident PDG will manage to complete the project despite the economic environment. “We’ve also gone through some of those unfortunate events where builders have been unable to finish your job,” Mahoney says. “We were part of the Probuild situation on one of our major projects and actually, in that case, Roberts and Co was the builder that ultimately took over and finished that job for us. “There’s definitely challenges and we’re not saying we’re immune from those sorts of things—everyone needs to deal with them.” PDG plans to complete One Queens Bridge in 2029.

Bend, Not Break: Flexibility Key to PDG’s Queens Bridge Skyscraper

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