Commercial Tower Envisioned Over Historic Melbourne Venue

Developer LaSalle Investment Management hopes to build a AUD200-million (US$138.6 million) cantilevered 35-story tower above Melbourne, Australia’s heritage-listed Comedy Theatre, which has been operating at 222-240 Exhibition Street since the 1920s, The Urban Developer reports. Designed by Architectus and targeting a 5-Star Green Star Building rating, the proposal will now be considered by the Future Melbourne Planning Committee. It entails demolishing a car park and constructing a six-level podium with 150 m² of rehearsal space for the theater, the façade of which would be retained. In all, the tower would offer 91,600 m² of mostly commercial space. At the property’s eastern boundary is LaSalle’s 222 Exhibition Street, which was completed in 1988 and modernized in 2010.