Alta’s Office-to-Apartment Scheme Greenlit for Albert Park

Most developers looking at a half-empty 1970s office tower on a premium boulevard would see it as a knock-down, rebuild proposition.

Fraser and Partners founder Callum Fraser saw something worth keeping.

Now, Alta Property has secured a planning permit for Fraser’s $200-million adaptive reuse plans for the site fronting Albert Park Lake.

The former commercial tower at 10 Queens Road in Melbourne will be converted into 169 apartments.

Planning approval came this week for the 17-storey project. The Fraser and Partners-designed conversion will retain the existing building’s facade, shell and internal structure, with a Albert Park-facing addition to house high-end homes alongside the retained portion.

One, two and three-bedroom apartments make up the bulk of the project’s unit mix, and two penthouses of more than 320sq m will top the building.

Each penthouse will have a private rooftop terrace and are expected to fetch between $9 million and $11 million apiece.

Ground-floor amenity will include private dining, a lounge bar, gym and wellness spaces, co-working areas, communal gardens and retail. Interiors will feature natural timber, granite finishes and 3m ceilings with exposed waffle concrete in selected spaces.

Views from the building take in Albert Park Lake, Port Phillip Bay and the Melbourne CBD.

Retaining the existing structure rather than demolishing and rebuilding is projected to deliver a 62 per cent reduction in carbon emissions, according to analysis by WT Partnership.

Fraser said the project offered a replicable model for underutilised central city buildings.

“If we can get this to work, it’s going to point a way for a lot of underutilised central city buildings,” Fraser told The Urban Developer. “Once you build one and see it, the rest will hopefully follow.”

The planning process presented the commonplace challenges specific to adaptive reuse projects, Fraser said, with council initially “assessing it as if it was a new build”.

Architecturally, the building would feature a curved, geometric facade, with warm, muted tones selected to complement rather than contrast the retained structure.

Stripping back the existing commercial fit-out revealed the building’s inherent structural qualities.

“Once you strip off all the plasterboard, the structure is great and very modern,” Fraser said.

Alta Property founder Nigel Givoni said Melbourne’s market conditions supported the project’s commercial rationale.

“Other Australian markets are getting a lot of attention, but I believe the depth of value in Melbourne is being overlooked,” he said.

“The fundamentals are strong, population growth is steady and, based on our preliminary conversations with a leading builder, construction costs are beginning to normalise, creating further opportunity.”

Supporting that view, the RPM VIC Apartments and Townhomes Market Report for April found that units were outpacing houses across the city.

Middle-ring suburb median prices reached $757,500, a four-year high representing 2.9 per cent growth quarter-on-quarter.

The plans for the site in the St Kilda Road North Precinct that is zoned Commercial 1 had received in-principle support from the City of Port Phillip ahead of the formal application.

“This project is a highly considered example of adaptive reuse, delivering quality, high-end residences, premium hotel-inspired amenities and an architecturally striking facade, all achieved without the need to remove the existing structure,” Givoni said. “We are really looking forward to the market’s response.”

Nearby, the Barings’ Queens Road project at 50-52 Queens Lane is a 14-level development of 433 apartments with amenities that include a wellness centre, pool, screening room and rooftop terrace.

The Bates Smart-designed project also includes more than 2500sq m of landscaped gardens and is targeting a 5 Star Green Star Design rating and a 7-star NatHERS average.

Hickory is the builder on that project, which topped out in August 2025 and expected to complete later this year.