PDG hint at their new Munro Site tower design
Developer PDG has circulated preliminary images of a tower proposed to grace the Munro site adjacent to the Queen Victoria Market.
This follows on from a planning application being submitted for the City of Melbourne-backed development which includes frontages to Therry Street, Queen Street and the rear of Franklin street. The application is with the Planning Minister's office after Minister Richard Wynne imposed a height limit over the site which was originally intended to host a 196 metre tower.
In the revised design, PDG have elected to run with a kidney-shaped tower of approximately 40 storeys which would adhere to the recently imposed 125 metre height limit.
The revised podium frontage to Therry Street sees an all-new interpretation, dropping the Mercat Cross-matching brick aspects across the lower levels. Conversely, a heightened level of greenery looks to be injected as per the render.
Under initial plans a smaller adjacent building to the main tower consisted of an affordable housing contingent, which should include approximately 56 spaces. A taller, more discernible building has now been included across the revised design to the west of the main residential building.
Original plans for the Munro site were designed by Bates Smart and Six Degrees Architects, with that design team likely to still be in place.
The lower levels to the Therry and Queen intersection remain ostensibly unchanged.
In the application lodged with the State Government early in the new year, a substantial car park, childcare centre and tavern have been included, reflecting earlier intentions backed by City of Melbourne.
Under those intentions the residential tower was to be supplemented by "56 affordable rental units; a hotel; a 120-place childcare centre; a maternal, child health and family services centre; community and creative facilities including artist spaces, a gallery, an auditorium and a community kitchen; and approximately 2,500 square metres of public open space including laneways and pedestrianized spaces."
It's not clear if the hotel component has been retained within the indicative new design.
PDG have indicated that they hope to launch the tower toward the tail end of 2018. The Munro site tower joins a trio of projects in Brunswick, West Melbourne, and the Toyota dealership on Elizabeth Street as the developer's forthcoming projects.
