Developer Wins Approval for 12-Storey Richmond Office Tower

Leo Iazzolino’s Elite Property Group has won planning permission for its Richmond office tower project from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The Gray Puksand-designed plans for the 1900sq m site at 525 Church Street and 1-7 Kingston Street were lodged with the Yarra City Council, which failed to make a determination in time.

If councils are unable to determine the outcome of planning applications within 60 days the project can be referred to VCAT for determination.

Elite Property lodged its application with VCAT in June 2022 after first filing plans with the council in 2021 and then providing additional information in March 2022 before the council advertised the plans in April. 

Plans for the site comprise a 12-storey commercial tower with an NLA of 11,500sq m of office space and two basement levels. 

There will be 67 car parking spaces and 140 bicycle spaces on the basement levels. A cafe will be on the ground floor along with end-of-trip facilities and a retail tenancy.

Council records showed that 80 objections were received in regard to building heights, street walls, building mass and cohesion with the surrounding area, as well as increased traffic, pedestrian safety, overshadowing, daylight access and wind and noise impacts.

Yarra Council’s planning committee met in July 2022 and determined the project would have been approved if two storeys were removed as well as other minor conditions. The council then submitted this information to VCAT.

However, VCAT ruiled that the height was appropriate.

▲ A render of the tower now approved by VCAT.

The site was a chocolate factory before being redeveloped in the 1990s as a car showroom for Duttons Garage.

When Duttons moved to South Yarra it became the home of Robertsons Furniture and Design.

Elite Property bought the site in 2018 for $12 million and the Kingston Street site in 2021 for $10 million. 

The developer’s past projects include industrial and commercial projects in Dandenong, Carrum Downs, Braeside, Moorabbin and Hallam.

Richmond experienced an increase in investment and activity during 2022 as part of the focus on Melbourne’s CBD fringe suburbs.