The Urban Developer

08/08/2025

Construction has started on the $200-million redevelopment of Hotel Lindrum on Flinders Street.

The heritage building will be converted into a 27-storey office tower while keeping the original facade from 1900. The project is expected to finish in 2027.

This building started as headquarters for Griffiths Bros Tea Company in 1900, became a billiards centre in the 1970s (named after world champion Walter Lindrum), then a hotel in 1999.

Now it's getting another new life as office space.

Time & Place has already secured tenants for about a third of the floors before construction is even properly underway.

Another construction project changing Melbourne's skyline.

Read more: https://zurl.co/r94qg

08/08/2025

Singaporean property developer Centurion Corporation is almost finished building a huge 732-bed student accommodation complex in Macquarie Park, and they're planning to do a lot more projects around Australia.

The company has been building student housing here since 2014 and now manages over 4500 student beds worldwide. They're looking beyond just student accommodation now – they want to get into worker housing, build-to-rent apartments, and co-living spaces too.

Their head of development Anthony Bolger is from Melbourne but has been working in Singapore for the past decade. He says despite Australia's complicated planning rules, they're committed to the long game.

They've got big projects planned for Melbourne (2500 beds near RMIT) and Perth, and the Macquarie Park project should be ready for students by early 2026 under their EPIISOD brand.

Read more: https://zurl.co/mMXgM

The global player’s planning and development head outlines why it’s here for the long haul, and looking beyond PBSA...

07/08/2025

Isolation is a major issue in vertical communities.

But some industry-leading developers and designers including and are using clever design to tackle the loneliness epidemic.

05/08/2025

McNab has won approval to transform the historic 19th-century Dixon's Tannery in West End into The Tannery Residences - a 10-storey wellness-focused apartment development that preserves Brisbane's industrial heritage.

The project will deliver 81 modern apartments while converting the original tannery building into a wellness retreat featuring sauna, steam room, plunge pools and commercial gym. Residents will also enjoy rooftop amenities, pool, private cinema, library and over 1,100sqm of communal spaces.

"This is the first truly integrated wellness and heritage project of its kind in Brisbane," says McNab founder Michael McNab. "Properties that honour history while delivering modern design have unique appeal."

Located at 439 Montague Road, construction starts in Q3 2024 with completion expected late 2027.

https://zurl.co/iVT0A

28/07/2025

Billionaire developer Larry Kestelman’s LK Property Group wants to turn the former Venus Packaging factory site in Melbourne’s east into a $50-million development.

The application, submitted through subsidiary LKPG Church Street Development Pty Ltd to Yarra Council, seeks to rezone the rear portion of 549-555 Church Street and 3 Cotter Street at Richmond from General Residential Zone Schedule 1 to Commercial 2 Zone.

Plans by architects Bates Smart show retail premises across the ground and first floors, and office space on levels two to seven...

See the full plans here: https://zurl.co/mIgvt

28/07/2025

Revised tower plans rising an additional six storeys have been filed for a site along one of the Gold Coast’s most exclusive dunal residential strips.

The uplift would push the proposed development almost 60 per cent higher—taking it from eight storeys approved in 2020 to 14 storeys.

With its street frontages just 10m wide, the Plus Architecture-designed tower has a slender built form enhanced by tiered landscaping “to create a luxurious and attractive interface to both Jefferson Lane and Gold Coast Highway”...

Continue reading here: https://zurl.co/DnaRB

28/07/2025

It’s July in Melbourne. The Henny / Prime Edition HQ is taking part in Dry July, but Melbourne’s development scene seems to have been on the wagon for years.

Projects have dried up, developers are abstaining from risk and some are still nursing hangovers from the apartment market binge of the 2000s and 2010s.

So, as traditional apartment development continues to face headwinds in the Victorian market, the Melbourne developer-builder partnership is moving into purpose-built student accommodation and alternative living sectors...

Read the full story here: https://zurl.co/618Oz

28/07/2025

A skybridge has been scrapped and the hotel component reworked as Billbergia Group files plans to modify its flagship Sydney skyscraper project.

The high-profile developer, who paid a reported $500 million for the site in Sydney’s Midtown, wants to rework the plans approved (per the below image) for former owner Chinese developer Han Group.

Billbergia, alongside JV partners Metrics Credit Partners, finalised the deal with Han Group in January this year...

See the new proposal here: https://zurl.co/JVnyN

25/07/2025

The procurement starter’s pistol has been fired for the creation of the centrepiece of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.

With just seven years to go, expressions of interest have been called from masterplanning contractors and their subcontractor teams for the new Victoria Park precinct.

Deputy Premier and State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie MP described it as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for industry leaders to help deliver Queensland’s largest infrastructure legacy”.

Simon Crooks, who most recently led the delivery of the Queen’s Wharf precinct fronting the Brisbane River, has been appointed chief executive of the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority (GIICA) and tasked with delivering the 2032 Olympics infrastructure program...

Read the full story here: https://zurl.co/HQnYj

25/07/2025

Developer Tim Gurner’s plan to build 120 apartments in Sydney’s inner south is among proposals to clear the first stage of NSW’s State Significant Development pathway.

The shovel-ready plan is for shoptop housing and includes a monetary contribution for affordable housing to the City of Sydney.

In 2017 GURNER™ Group filed plans for the site designed by WARREN AND MAHONEY that included 94 apartments and 89 parking spaces to replace a standalone warehouse on the site at a cost of $33 million....

Read the full story here: https://zurl.co/DpbWh

25/07/2025

Fortis is taking advantage of low and midrise reforms to upscale its Rose Bay project.

The Sydney-headquartered developer has filed plans with the Woollahra Council to add three storeys to its eastern Sydney proposal.

Fortis associate director for development and head of acquisitions John Yacoub told The Urban Developer that the reforms’ impact was significant.

“The reforms have significantly improved the feasibility of certain projects, enabling us to explore larger schemes with increased GFA, additional apartments, and enhanced design outcomes such as improved views and natural light,” he said...

Continue reading here: https://zurl.co/8ysPG

25/07/2025

Melbourne’s North Bank precinct is undergoing a dramatic transformation as domestic and international developers convert the dormant industrial waterfront into a thriving urban drawcard.

The transformation is anchored by two landmark developments: RIVERLEE’s Seafarers project and Mirvac’s 7 Spencer Street development.

Riverlee development director David Lee says the transformation reverses decades of underutilisation, a key part of Riverlee founder Clement Lee’s 20-year vision.

“This side has been dormant for 40 years,” Lee tells The Urban Developer. “There just hasn’t been a reason for people to cross that bridge and wander into the goods shed—until now.”

Read the full piece here: https://zurl.co/XFiek