Sime Darby Greenlit for $496m Melbourne CBD Skyscraper

A Malaysian developer, one of the consortium behind the multi-billion-dollar Battersea Power Station redevelopment in central London, has been greenlit to develop a Melbourne apartment tower. 

Kuala Lumpur-based Sime Darby Property is planning the skyscraper at 382-406 Queen Street in the CBD. 

The 1333-apartment project will replace a multi-level car park acquired by Sime Darby in 2024.

It reportedly paid the Lim family, the dynasty behind the Singapore construction firm Evan Lim & Co, $115 million for the site.

Sime Darby’s plans for the 3218sq m site, designed by Cox Architecture, were filed in June of last year to replace a seven-storey car park and education centre.

The developer won ministerial approval this week for its planning permit for the project, which has a development value of $495.62 million. 

Sime Darby’s proposals detailed a two-pronged attack for the mixed-use building, which will contain market apartments and student accommodation. 

Once complete, the project will comprise 693 build-to-sell apartments in a mix of 297 studios, 330 one and 66 two-bedroom units. 

The student accommodation component will have a total of 900 beds across 520 one, 40 two, 60 three and 20 six-bed units. 

▲ A rendering of the podium along Queen Street of Sime Darby’s approved plans.

The student accommodation will be across levels 9 to 28, with the remaining floors allocated to market apartments and communal spaces.

Given its mix of permanent and short term accommodation, the assessment report said, it has the potential to accommodate a “demographically diverse population”.

Sime Darby is also planning 10,103sq m of net lettable office area on levels 2 to 6, and 3419sq m of retail premises on the mezzanine and level 1.

The ground floor is planned to have a network of laneways and arcades, of which the majority are open-air.

Parking for 154 cars, 27 motorbikes and 386 bicycles has also been allocated across four levels of basement. 

Queen Victoria Market precinct

Sime Darby’s site is in the northern corner of the Hoddle Grid, transitioning to the Queen Victoria Market precinct, 300m from Flagstaff train station and 250m from Melbourne central station. 

Planning permits from 2024 allowed the construction of office and residential towers, as well as a student accommodation tower, up to 183m. 

▲ Sime Darby’s project will overlook the Queen Victoria Markets precinct, which is undergoing renewal.

Concerns had been raised over its height and the impact on the nearby heritage-listed 150-year-old Queen Victoria Markets, which are subject to a precinct development plan approved in 2024.

But the current project won the support of the City of Melbourne, and was subsequently approved by Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning. 

It said that the proposed development could contribute to the provision of housing in Melbourne, and responds appropriately to the development overlay with its podium design and height as well as tower setbacks.

The Sime Group is best known in Australia for its car dealerships and heavy equipment distribution rather than property development. 

▲ The Queen Street project will be near Queens Place, a 79-storey double-tower project by 3L Alliance.

It is one of Malaysia’s biggest developers, having built 100,000 homes with a total estimated gross development value of $37 billion (RM103 billion). 

The group also owns 40 per cent of the Battersea Power Station redevelopment in London alongside S P Setia Berhad and the Employees Provident Fund, a $17 billion (£9 billion) regeneration of a vacant and deteriorating power station into a huge mixed-use development.

And Sime Darby has dipped its toe in the water of Australian development as well, selling a masterplanned Gold Coast community Serenity Cove in 2020 to Keylin Group for $50 million.