Victorian planning minister Richard Wynne approves Grocon on Spring Street

Victorian planning minister Richard Wynne has approved an amended Grocon application for 85 Spring Street, Melbourne, which was refused planning permission in early April. 

Wynne ruled the proposed 46-level Grocon tower was too high and too close to other buildings in the eastern Collins Street precinct, preferring the advice of city hall over his planning officers, who had recommended in favour of the tower, with conditions.

There is no height limit at 85 Spring Street, occupied now by a 16-storey office tower which Grocon acquired in 2013 for about $45 million.

Grocon will trim its proposal to 39 levels and reduce the number of apartments, originally about 305, down to about 225.

The building would no longer overshadow the adjacent Gordon Reserve, while Grocon would have to secure air rights from neighbour Anzac House as part of the planning permit. This move would protect the views of the new apartments.

Positioned just a few hundred metres from Parliament House, the 16-storey building is a late 1980s office building.