Where to, now? Major blow for Beulah’s Southbank vision

The news many had sadly been anticipating broke in February when developer Beulah placed the company managing its troubled STH BNK project into administration, casting serious doubts on its future. 

In August last year, Southbank News exclusively first reported on Beulah’s behind-the-scenes struggles to get what would be Australia’s tallest mixed-use project off the ground as it desperately sought to cut costs amid rising economic challenges. 

With more than $5 million now owed to creditors, Beulah’s decision to place BSSPV Pty Ltd into administration on February 11 followed the project’s architects Cox Architecture and UNStudio filing a wind-up notice against it in the Supreme Court. 

Despite recent speculation surrounding its sales, Beulah now faces a major dilemma in delivering for the 80 per cent of its customers who are understood to have purchased apartments, while keeping growing construction costs of around $2 billion to a minimum. 

Compounding these  difficulties is the unprecedented degree of private and public amenities the project had promised to deliver for Southbank, which sits at the major nexus of City Rd, Southbank Boulevard and Southbank Promenade. 

But Beulah director Jiaheng Chan said the decision to put BSSPV Pty Ltd into voluntary administration was made to allow additional time to progress the project as it now seeks alternative finance. 

“We have now made the decision to place the project management entity into voluntary administration while we pursue an alternative strategy to realise the STH BNK project,” Mr Chan said. 

“This is not a situation we wanted to find ourselves in, but our project is not immune to the market challenges faced across Melbourne.” 

Despite our best efforts and those of our partners and creditors, we failed to achieve a target by early 2024 that would have seen us activate construction finance at that time.

David Vasudevan and Lindsay Bainbridge of Pitcher Partners Melbourne were appointed as voluntary administrators on February 11, and a Beulah spokesperson said it would provide an update on the construction build time once it had clearer information on costs and finance.

A joint statement issued by Cox Architecture and UNStudio, which famously won an international design competition hosted by Beulah for their “Green Spine” vision in 2018, said they were unable to comment on the project’s status. 

“Throughout the project, we have worked closely with the Beulah team to find solutions to address the external influences that both the project and the industry more widely have been exposed to over the last five years, whilst continuing to investigate Beulah’s brief and project aspirations,” the joint statement read. 

“Despite all of the hard work and effort of the combined team, the market environment remains extremely challenging. However, UNStudio and Cox are continuing to collaborate and explore other exciting project opportunities together around the world.” 

Multiplex, the builder appointed by Beulah in 2023, is also no longer involved with the project. 

With the project’s current planning permit set to expire on April 20, it would undoubtedly appear Beulah will be forced to go back to the drawing board to salvage its $2.7 billion dual tower vision comprising apartments, offices and a hotel. 

In August last year, a Beulah spokesperson told Southbank News it was embarking on a series of amendments to the project’s design in response to market conditions. This included modifying the number of basement levels. 

Its original approved plans sought to do what no other Southbank development had done before, which was to excavate the notoriously soft soil and substrata that dominate the area along the Yarra River to construct a six-level basement car park. 

Southbank News understands Beulah has unsuccessfully made several approaches to other large local and international developers about partnering and even taking over the site. 

At a local level, the question remains as to what will come of this key Southbank location, with Beulah still understood to be pursuing a permit to demolish the existing former BMW showroom building.  

A Beulah spokesperson didn’t provide a response when asked how it planned to activate the site in the interim, but it’s believed its arts and cultural pop-up “BETA” at Hanover House will continue.  

Southbank Residents’ Association (SRA) president Tony Penna has encouraged the state government and the City of Melbourne to explore much-needed green open space for the site, even if it is only temporary. 

Mr Penna said SRA was disappointed that the development was unlikely to proceed but looked forward to seeing what the site’s next chapter might entail. 

“It was certainly offering so much to the wider Southbank community and would have been our central focal point while complementing the promenade,” Mr Penna said. 

Yarra River Business Association (YRBA) executive officer Tim Bracher said the news was disappointing, “but it’s not unexpected.” 

“I have not seen such a hyped development in Southbank in my time, so it was probably always a case of being too good to be true,” Mr Bracher said. 

“Even if they can flip the development, I can’t see any developer being able to construct the same design in this economic climate.” 

Mr Bracher said the news was consistent with “a general slowdown in economic activity on Southbank, as the strip rejuvenates itself over the next decade.” 

Beulah’s site represents a major missing link in several overdue plans, including the City Road Master Plan, stage six of the Southbank Boulevard transformation and the completion of upgrades to Southbank Promenade. 

Mr Bracher implored the City of Melbourne to get on with anything it could do to revitalise Southbank while several major developments, including Beulah’s, remained in limbo. 

“How long will we be waiting for the completion of even stage one of the promenade redevelopment, let alone Queensbridge Square and stage six of Southbank Boulevard?” Mr Bracher said. 

“The council could at least help with the come-back through redevelopment of the public realm.” •