Brarz’s plans to rework its Melbourne office plans into student accommodation have been approved.
The Melbourne developer filed amended plans earlier this year for its approved 42-level highrise on 54-66 La Trobe Street in the Melbourne CBD.
An existing permit for the site, granted in 2024, allowed a mixed-use tower of offices and a 160-room hotel with 61 rooms.
But Brarz went back to the drawing board soon after the approval, convertiung the project into a 719-room student accommodation building of 876 beds.
Rooms range from 14 to 31 sq m for singles and double rooms, and will be in twin room and six-bed configurations.
Amenities include kitchens, lounge and communal dining rooms, music and study rooms, and a cinema, plus terraces and parking for 305 bicycles.
The student accommodation rework fits with surrounding uses that includ a three-storey karaoke bar and a 44-storey Scape PBSA tower.
▲ A rendering of the PBSA scheme approved for the LaTrobe Street site.
The 1160sq m site is near Carlton Gardens, and Melbourne universities including RMIT.
Plans by Urbis for the site, which is on the northern edge of Melbourne CBD, were designed by Bates Smart.
Developer Brarz Developments City Pty Ltd, part of the House of Brar investment group, is led by director Sarbjit Brar. Founded in 2004, it holds a real estate portfolio valued at $850 million.
The project is the latest in a number of approved office-to-housing conversions rising across the country.
Listed Singaporean developer Wee Hur filed revised plans earlier this year for a 12,200sq m in Brisbane’s Woolloongabba precinct, converting it into two towers of 300 affordable homes, while Thirdi scrapped its Crows Nest over-station office proposal in Sydney, replacing it with 474 build-to-sell and build-to-rent apartments.