In #LittleLonsdale near King Street – a case of facadism, but not because it was heritage listed! Guess they decided they couldn’t design anything better. This little industrial building was built in 1923, and in 2017 a permit was issued for a hotel, which has recently been changed into an office tower (given the current market for hotels). Its the sort of modest industrial building that the Hoddle Grid Review has now protected, but this one was too late.
Update 2024: the site was sold in 2023, and now I look closer I have to say, even with the better rules in place since 2016, the allowable development here is surprising – it’s rather tall right on the lane, and there’s a 20 storey wall of 1980s offices across Little Lon, but the rules don’t take that sort of thing into account. And there’s an awful lot of new apartments that just look at each other or a 30 storey light well, and still unaffordable, crazy really.
Storey of Melbourne 