Tall & Urban News

Malaysian development giant UEM Sunrise has topped out its Aurora project, an AU$770 million (US$ 547 million) skyscraper opposite Melbourne Central.

The 88-story project, which is funded by a club of lenders, including Westpac along with Asian banks OCBC and DBS, is now in its final stages of construction, with all 959 apartments sold.

Aurora, UEM Sunrise’s flagship development after launching in Australia in 2015, now stands as the tallest residential tower in Melbourne’s CBD, at 271 meters tall, overtaking the 251-meter Rialto.

Publicly listed in Malaysia, the company is the development arm of the UEM Group, which is wholly-owned by Khazanah, a Malaysian government investment fund.

UEM Sunrise managing director Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib said that this was not only a major milestone for UEM Sunrise, being the company’s second project to top out in Australia in the past 12 months, but also a testament to the growth of Melbourne’s prospering CBD.

Aurora, which sits opposite the Melbourne Central shopping complex, will comprise 959 apartments and a component of 252 serviced apartments.

The 120,000-square-meter development also features retail space, office space and 362 parking spaces.

The development also provides residents with a direct underground connection to Melbourne Central Train Station, Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, Emporium, Myer, David Jones and Bourke St Mall.

Construction on the Elenberg Fraser-designed tower commenced in late-2015, replacing a nine-level parking garage.

Construction partner Probuild handed over the first 336 apartments of the tower late last year with the final stages of the project is expected to be completed by August.

“Aurora Melbourne Central has been strategically constructed to enable a staged handover, where residents have been able to move into the first two completed stages since October 2018, while construction continues safely above at higher levels,” Probuild Victorian managing director Luke Stambolis said.

Aurora SP4, 489 units, and Aurora SP5, 281 units, are expected to be handed over and settled in May and October 2019, respectively.

The developer is hopeful of achieving a 99 percent settlement rate overall at Aurora. The average selling price for apartments in the project is AU$10,500 (US$7,460) per square meter.

For more on this story visit the Urban Developer.