The Victorian government has granted planning approval to a $257 million, 38-storey build-to-rent tower in Melbourne’s Docklands, led by Salta Properties and designed by architecture practice FK.
Positioned on the north-west side of Marvel Stadium, at 696–699 La Trobe Street, the greenlit scheme reaches 130 metres in height, comprising a seven-storey podium – housing a co-working space, fitness centre and lounge – and a residential tower above providing 554 apartments and various resident amenities.
Of this yield, 138 dwellings are slated as studios, 231 as one-bedroom apartments, 169 as two-bedroom apartments and 16 as three-bedroom apartments. Ten percent of the dwellings above 75 metres in height, which equates to about 26 apartments, have been voluntarily designated as affordable housing.
Landscape design by Oculus is included in the ground-floor urban forecourt, the podium rooftop and rooftop terraces.
The project has been iterated several times by Salta Properties and FK. The pair first received a planning permit for a mixed-use building on the same site in 2012, followed by approval in 2016 for a three-tower scheme and again in 2019 with a single, curved-facade tower.
With the permit for the latter proposal expired, plans for the now-approved scheme were lodged as a new application in early 2025 and were exhibited mid-year.
According to the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning’s assessment report, the proposal’s “high yield of residential accommodation is entirely appropriate given the site’s proximity to the CBD, transport and services, and will help to ensure this well-located area of urban land does not remain underutilised.”
Source: Architecture - architectureau
