Plans to build the country’s tallest tower in Melbourne run into trouble
The construction of the nation’s tallest skyscraper in Melbourne has hit a major setback, with the project manager for the planned $2bn development collapsing after being chased for unpaid bills.
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A bid to build the nation’s tallest building in Melbourne is under a cloud after its developer put the project manager of the planned $2bn Southbank tower into administration.
Beulah International, which is behind the high-profile STH BNK by Beulah tower project, has appointed administrators to the company BSSPV which was responsible for managing the massive development.
The move to call in administrators by Malaysian-backed Beulah came after architecture firms Cox Architecture and UN Studio, the designers of STH BNK, lodged a winding-up order against BSSPV.
Winding-up notices are issued by parties who are owed money from a company in a bid to get a court to enforce payment of the debt.
If the debt is found legitimate and a company is unable to pay, the court can then appoint a liquidator to the company.
Insolvency experts David Vasudevan and Lindsay Bainbridge of Pitcher Partners are overseeing the administration of BSSPV.
Early works on the STH BNK project were slated to start early this year.
Designs featured the dual towers, estimated to be 365m and 295m in height, which would be home to the world’s highest vertical garden, a Four Seasons hotel and an auto club fleet of 50 luxury cars for residents.
The site, located on Southbank Boulevard, was believed to be acquired by Beulah for $101m.
More than 100 shops, a 302 room hotel, offices, green spaces including eight pocket parks, a conference and entertainment centre, children’s daycare and a health and wellness precinct were featured in artist impressions.
Beulah director Jiaheng Chan said construction cost estimates had nearly doubled since the project started and the decision to put the project manager into administration would buy time to try and secure further financing.
“This is not a situation we wanted to find ourselves in, but our project is not immune to the cost rises and challenges faced by the broader property market,” Mr Chan told the AFR.
“Despite our best efforts and those of our partners and creditors, we failed to achieve a target by early 2024 that would have seen us activate construction finance at that time.”
“We have now made the difficult decision to place the project management entity into voluntary administration to have additional time to secure finance and allow progress on the project.”
It’s understood Beulah has sold more than 80 per cent of its 700-plus off-the-plan apartments featured in the project.
Beulah is the latest high-profile property developer to run into trouble, after Melbourne-based property giant Bensons Property Group collapsed in December with more than 1000 homes under construction worth about $1.5bn, owing creditors upwards of $800m.
Originally published as Plans to build the country’s tallest tower in Melbourne run into trouble
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