A 17-storey office development near the Old Treasury Building redevelopment has received building plan approval and will finish construction within two years of securing an anchor tenant.
The development, on the corner of St Georges Terrace and Pier Street, will require the demolition of two unoccupied buildings, construction of a 17-storey office building at a cost of $72.5 million, and the incorporation and restoration of St Andrew’s Uniting Church.
The Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust (WA), which is the owner of the site to be designed by Cox Architects, has named it St Andrew’s Place.
St Andrew’s Place is one street east of the $580 million redevelopment of the Old Treasury Building precinct, which includes the new City of Perth Library, a 33-level office tower, public plaza, and the six-star Treasury Hotel, due for completion by the end of next year.
It is also adjacent to the previously long-vacant May Holman Centre on St Georges Terrace, on which Golden Group is spending $100 million to redevelop after securing Legal Aid WA as an anchor tenant.
Willoughby Property Group managing director Jason Willoughby said St Andrew’s Place would be closer to the centre of the CBD than the QV1 building.
“Traditionally Barrack Street has been the market’s view of the eastern border of the core CBD, but given the amount of investment construction and amenity that is occurring within Cathedral Square and its close proximity to the CBD centre it now makes perfect sense for these boundaries to expand back to what was originally Perth’s town centre,” Mr Willoughby told Business News.
The St Andrew’s Place development application included three adjacent lots and sought to demolish the four-storey Westminster House at 10-14 Pier Street and the two-storey McNess Memorial Hall at 36 St Georges Terrace.
Uniting Church WA Synod Resources Board chair Reverend John Dunn said the Uniting Church welcomed the development, which would restore the heritage-listed church and provide an income stream for it to grow its community services.
A similar application proposing a similar office building of a greater height (97.5 metres), the demolition of the two nearby buildings, and conservation of St Andrew’s Uniting church was originally approved for development by Perth City Council in 2009.
The new height of the approved development is 87.5 metres.
The total lot size is 2,598 square metres and the 17-storey building will include 14,410sqm of office space.
Willoughby Property Group believes St Andrew’s Place will be worth $135 million once completed and fully occupied, based on selling 16,500sqm at a rate of $8,000/sqm.
There will be 50 car-parking bays and 140 bicycle bays to encourage staff to cycle to work. In addition, 16 shower rooms and 182 lockers will be built, which is more than double the amenities required under the City Planning Scheme No 2.
