Property company Charter Hall Group has begun the construction of the $1.5 billion 555 Collins Street precinct which will house online retailing giant Amazon’s new headquarters in Melbourne.
Stage 1 of construction, scheduled for completion by early 2023, is worth $750 million and comprises a 48,000sqm premium office tower. A second office tower of 32,000sqm will include premium food and beverage retailers as well as a health and wellbeing hub.
The company held the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday, attended by Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas, lord mayor Sally Capp, Amazon Web Services MD, ANZ, Adam Beavis, Charter Hall MD and group CEO David Harrison, Charter Hall Office CEO Carmel Hourigan and construction partner Lendlease GM Victoria Bill Alexandrakis.
“Melbourne has a rich community of innovators, and we are looking forward to bringing Amazon’s growing local workforce to 555 Collins Street so we can continue to invent and innovate on behalf of customers across our Amazon and AWS businesses in Australia,” said Beavis.
“555 Collins comes with a 6 Star Green rating and is constructed under a carbon neutral framework, which will contribute to helping us reach our goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2040.”
Lord mayor Capp said the construction will provide 1500 jobs for Victorians. The city’s economy is recovering and the new project “will be a catalyst for further investment” in the CBD.
“This is significant for Melbourne and incredible news for jobs and our highly skilled workforce – this investment will contribute billions of dollars to the Victorian tech economy in the next 10 years and cement our position as the home of innovation in the nation,” said Pallas.
Charter Hall worked with architectural company COX Architecture and Gensler.
