A $2.3 billion plan to build Australia’s tallest tower falters

MELBOURNE – Four weeks before Melbourne entered Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, a group of councillors gathered in the city’s Town Hall to back a proposal for the tallest structure that Australia had ever seen, one that would see a spiralling green garden wrapped around a 365m-tall skyscraper. 

The developers – a young married couple with ties to well-connected Malaysian families – were hailed as nothing short of revolutionary during the meeting.

Five years on, after buyers paid deposits for 80 per cent of its planned apartments, the A$2.7 billion (S$2.3 billion) project still does not have a builder.

The Melbourne-based developer Beulah, co-founded by Ms Adelene Teh and Mr Chan Jiaheng, was caught out by soaring construction costs in the wake of the pandemic, and creditors owed more than A$5 million have taken action to recover their debts. 

In one of the most prominent examples yet of Australia’s building crunch, the millennial developers’ ambition went stratospheric, it turns out, at the worst possible time.

Beulah has now engaged Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) and KPMG to scout for new investors, partners or a potential buyer of the site in Melbourne’s Southbank district, where construction is yet to start. 

“Of course, we remain hopeful it will be completed. STH BNK is not only a significant project for Melbourne, but also for Australia,” said Mr Chan, managing director of Beulah, referring to the name of the development. “The campaign via JLL and KPMG is progressing well, and we expect to receive some good interest.”

Their vision was bold: a “mini metropolis” of around 700 apartments alongside a smaller tower topped by a Four Seasons hotel, not to mention the world’s tallest vertical garden, a wellness centre and a cultural hub operated by Paris’s iconic Centre Pompidou.

It promised to transform Southbank, an area better known for its relentless traffic, garish apartment towers and touristy restaurants on the edge of Melbourne’s central business district. 

The development was partly financed by Malayan Banking, Malaysia’s largest bank, and fast-tracked by the Victoria state government, as Melbourne urgently sought to revive its economy in the early days of a pandemic that would eventually see the city endure six lockdowns. 

Beulah’s savvy social media campaigns, including a global contest to choose the eventual design, whipped up a frenzy of interest in STH BNK.

That saw more than 80 per cent of the apartments secured by the end of 2023, including a sub-penthouse that the developer said achieved a Melbourne price record of A$38 million.

Beulah reassured buyers that year by announcing that Brookfield-backed Multiplex, one of Australia’s largest construction firms, had been appointed as STH BNK’s “builder partner”.

Multiplex, which built London’s Wembley Stadium, confirmed that it is no longer involved with the project.

Today, a massive placard that declares “Australia’s Tallest Tower is Coming” remains the most visible sign that something is even planned for the site of an empty BMW dealership that Beulah paid A$101 million for in 2017.

“We have been diligently working behind the scenes on securing a builder, and have been in discussion with a few international and local groups who can build the project within an acceptable timeframe and budget,” said Mr Chan.

Mr Deric Ly, client service manager at real estate agent Global RE, says that he helped secure a number of deposits for STH BNK in the last few years, mainly from local clients who put down 10 per cent of the purchase price. 

“Everyone’s just being kept in limbo at the moment,” Mr Ly said in an interview. “Every customer that I’ve spoken to in the last two, three months is still optimistic and hopeful that the project will proceed.”

The development provides a stark example of the cocktail of factors behind

Australia’s housing crisis

that have accelerated since the pandemic.

Many projects around Australia have been shelved or stalled as firms that locked in fixed-price contracts got caught out as building costs soared, said Ms Denita Wawn, chief executive of industry body Master Builders Australia. 

“We’ve had construction costs going up by 40 per cent over the last five years,” said Ms Wawn, speaking generally.

Beulah’s Ms Teh is the daughter of Datuk Ir Teh Kean Ming, who was once CEO of IJM Corp, one of Malaysia’s biggest developers.

He is now the managing director of Kuala Lumpur-listed developer JKG Land, and has been described in the Malaysian press as a “formidable property magnate” with four decades of real estate experience. 

Mr Chan, 38, is the son of Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy, a former deputy president of the Malaysian Chinese Association political party, who once served as transport minister.

He is now chairman of two Kuala Lumpur-listed firms, including Fajarbaru Builder Group, which has worked with Beulah on some projects.

Ms Teh and Mr Chan both went to the University of Melbourne, where Ms Teh obtained a master’s in Architecture.

Mr Chan studied engineering and initially did not anticipate going into real estate, he said in a 2020 interview.

But that changed when his brother-in-law, who was co-developing a glass skyscraper of apartments in Southbank, invited the couple to help raise funds for the venture as part of a Malaysian syndicate. 

The building, called Australia 108, is one of the nation’s tallest towers, and is a short walk from the site planned for STH BNK. 

But the couple decided that building was their future, and that would be in Melbourne.

In 2015, they began developing their debut project as a duo, an upscale 11-story apartment building with Australia’s first private dog park.

Beulah went on to build a smattering of similar-scaled residential developments around the city.

Maybank funded some of Beulah’s projects, and another backer was Malaysian tycoon Kong Hon Kong.

Even as Beulah was making plans for Australia’s tallest building, in 2021 it completed a 48-level apartment tower in Melbourne’s central business district called Paragon.

The same year, it purchased an adjoining site next to the BMW dealership that allowed it to modify plans for STH BNK, which included increasing the space between the twin towers.

In February 2025, STH BNK’s financial troubles were publicly laid bare.

The project manager vehicle for the towers entered voluntary administration after some creditors issued wind-up orders against it.

Beulah then agreed a Deed of Company Arrangement that ended the administration, giving it 18 months to repay creditors by either selling the BMW site or finding an alternative financial solution for the project. 

“One scenario is to raise capital for the project, lock in a builder to activate construction financing to keep it progressing; another scenario would be to secure a JV partner,” said Mr Teh. “Another scenario is to sell the site and explore other opportunities. All three avenues are currently being explored.” BLOOMBERG