Murdoch's sister wins approval for Melbourne office tower development
Janet Calvert-Jones, the sister of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and her family have won a planning permit to build a 23-storey office tower above the former German Club in a laneway just off the 'Paris' end of Collins Street in Melbourne.
The Calvert-Joneses purchased the German Club at 7-19 Alfred Place through their company Seafirst Australia in 2006 for $11 million and have now won approval from the City of Melbourne for the $24.5 million tower.
Ms Calvert-Jones, the youngest child of Dame Elizabeth Murdoch and Sir Keith Murdoch, owns Seafirst Australia with her stockbroker husband John and their sons Mark and James.
The German Club is listed on Victoria’s heritage register as a 'heritage inventory site' and is leased to Neil Perry's Rockpool Group, a plastic surgeon and other medical specialists.
The Club was built in 1887, originally as a single storey structure, before it was acquired in 1918 by the Naval & Military Club which added an additional three floors.
The approved 80-metre tall office tower will require partial demolition of the club.
The plans, which attracted 19 objections, show the existing ground floor on Alfred Place and two floors above will continue to be a restaurant and office.
The third level will become an internal lobby for the tower which rises above it.
The slim, narrow high-rise on the small 526 square metre site will give prospective tenants 5000sq m of office space on 260sq m floor plates.
The eastern end of Collins Street is Melbourne’s premium office address attracting blue chip corporate tenants paying some of the highest office rents in the city.
The tower was approved with conditions that require it to be set back more from the heritage building and to provide bike parking spaces.
The new building will be sandwiched between Mirvac's 24-level tower at 90-98 Collins Street and the soaring China Investment Corporation-owned 52-storey high rise at 120 Collins Street.