Super-skinny: Grocon plans Melbourne’s tallest tower
Property scion Daniel Grollo’s company Grocon is backing the development of an ultra-skinny 60-storey apartment tower that would become Melbourne’s tallest, as it recasts its operations after losses on projects in Queensland.
Grocon and the Royal Society of Victoria have made plans for a building that would stand 330m on a sliver of land on the corner of Latrobe and Victoria streets.
The proposed Magic building would be just 18m wide but it would trump the city’s recent wave of skyscrapers in height if it went ahead. It would sit next to the Royal Society of Victoria’s historic headquarters and caretaker’s cottage.
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Grocon has been under scrutiny over its finances, with a loss-making subsidiary filing accounts last month. But the company has remained active and in Sydney it is dealing with bids on the $1.4 billion office component of its Central Barangaroo project on Sydney Harbour.
Grocon is also undertaking a major hotel project on Darling Harbour and has flagged a shift into build-to-rent complexes.
Building the tower, with an estimated cost of $150 million, would signal its return to luxury units.
The project could revitalise the Royal Society of Victoria, allowing it to support science, technology, and science clubs across the state.
Facilities on site would also be upgraded, and a perpetual endowment fund is to be set up.
Grocon, as development and construction partner, has undertaken to deliver the project at minimum necessary returns to enable most proceeds to go to the RSV’s perpetual endowment fund.
“Magic, at 1 Victoria Street, will be the most innovative, most sustainable, tallest possible reach-for-the-stars proposition that we can create,” says tower architect Dylan Brady of Decibel Architecture.
“We look forward to working with the various authorities and stakeholders to realise this vision for the RSV and its future,” Grocon spokeswoman Melinda D’Cruze says.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
