Brarz Plots PBSA Switch for Approved Melbourne Highrise

An approved 42-level highrise in central Melbourne would transform to student living under amendments now before the state.

Brarz Developments City  has filed a planning amendment for its approved mixed-use development at 54–66 La Trobe Street, Melbourne.

The Victorian developer wants to deliver 719 rooms and 876 beds in the tower on the northern edge of the CBD.

Brarz Developments City Pty Ltd is helmed by director Sarbjit Brar and  is part of the House of Brar investment group, which Brar founded in 2004. It holds a real estate portfolio valued at $850 million.

The group’s property interests comprise residential, industrial and mixed-use projects across Melbourne, including a build-to-rent project at Ascot Vale and industrial estates at Officer, Truganina and Wollert.

Urbis prepared the report supporting the Section 72 amendment to the planning permit, with architecture firm Bates Smart responsible for the building design.

The permit for the site was granted in 2024 by planning minister Sonya Kilkenny after an unanimous endorsement by the City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee. The then-deputy lord mayor Nicholas Reece descibed it as “a very high-quality outcome for this part of the city and a welcome addition to the skyline”.

▲ A rendering of the highrise from ground level on La Trobe Street.

The existing permit approved a mixed-use tower comprising commercial offices, a 160-room residential hotel and 61 apartments.

The amendments now before the Department of Transport and Planningwould replace those uses with purpose-built student accommodation.

Gross floor area would increase from 26,771sq m to 27,915sq m while reducing the floor area ratio from 26.5:1 to 24.1:1 and eliminating car parking in favour of 305 bicycle spaces.

Rising 143.25m—137.4m excluding plant, the tower would comprise 638 one and 62 two-bed rooms; and 19 six-bed cluster rooms with private kitchens. Room sizes would range from 14sq m to 31 square metres.

The maximum building height and the approved building envelope is unchanged from the approved proposal, likewise the 20m wall height along La Trobe Street.

The building would include 2446sq m of internal communal amenity across kitchen and lounge areas, dining spaces, study rooms, a cinema and music rooms.

External terraces would be provided at Levels 4, 14, and 40, and a four-storey podium would form the base of the tower.

▲ The site on La Trobe Street is between an apartment tower and a PBSA tower by Scape.

Designed to achieve a 5-Star Green Star Rating, the building would be fully electric.

Sustainability measures include photovoltaic panels for on-site renewable energy generation, a rainwater harvesting system for toilet flushing and irrigation, high-performance building envelope systems and a target of 90 per cent construction and demolition waste diversion from landfill.

The 1160sq m site is within walking distance of RMIT University, the University of Melbourne, the State Library of Victoria, Carlton Gardens and several tram and train connections.

The proposal is recommended for approval under the Melbourne Planning Scheme. The site is zoned Mixed Use and falls under Design and Development Overlay schedules DDO1 and DDO4.

It also responds to Melbourne’s planning policy framework, which supports increased student housing supply in the central city.