The City of Perth gave two thumbs up in its council meeting last night to Luke Saraceni and Hossean Pourzand's $120 million Raine Square development, as well as Cape Bouvard and Charter Hall's $60 million, 21-level office tower at 54 Mounts Bay Road.
Negotiations are continuing to secure an anchor tenant for up to 40,000 square metres of office space at Raine Square, split between a 21-storey tower and connected 13-storey building.
Purchased for $21.5 million in 2004, the 12,314sq m development site is bordered by Wellington, William, Murray and Queen Streets, and will be linked via a tunnel to the new William Street railway station.
A 10,000sq m, three-level retail podium is to house a number of specialty stores, a food hall and supermarket.
Existing heritage buildings on the perimeters of the site will be retained and modified, including the Royal Hotel and Wentworth Plaza Hotel, while the Moon and Sixpence tavern will be extended into an 800sq m public plaza.
Over at 54 Mounts Bay Road, the council has for the fifth time approved a development application for the 3,214sq m car park site. It had previously approved a 28-storey, mixed-use residential and commercial building back in 1995, followed by Cape Bouvard's 18-storey mixed-use office, retail and hotel development in 1999, a 17-storey mixed-use building in 2002 and its 36-storey 'Icon' mixed-use residential tower in 2003.
Its latest plan comprises 19,300 sq metres of space, with 96 tenant car parking bays, a bar, rooftop café/gym, and a landscaped public plaza at ground level.
Despite not signing an anchor tenant, construction of the project is expected to be kicked off early next year, with an anticipated completion date of late 2008.
