The Central Park Skyscraper is a 51-storey office building in Perth. The skyscraper is 226 metres tall from base to roof, and together with the communications antenna, the entire 249 metres. It is the tallest building in Perth and the ninth tallest in Australia.
The approval of the building's design was quite controversial: the skyscraper is more than double the height allowed for the site. The building itself is constructed of laminated steel on a concrete frame with varied facade ledges - the upper floors are much smaller in area than the lower floors. Side supports on the top of the building and on the ledges increase its resistance to strong winds, which are frequent in this region. At the foot is a small park, which gave the skyscraper its name.
From the early 1930s, the site was home to the Foy & Gibson department store, known to locals simply as Foy's and later renamed David Jones. By the late 1970s, the chain that owned the department stores' had withdrawn from the Western Australian market and for several years the shop building sat idle. In 1985 the land was acquired by Central Park Developments, which announced the redevelopment of the 1.5 hectare site. It was planned to build a 45-storey office building, underground car park, park and shop. By October 1986, the height of the planned building had already increased to 47 storeys. The underground car park project caused a big problem: Perth City Council had decided that only 300 cars could be accommodated in this area of the city, so as not to create traffic. And the project claimed to create 1175 car parking spaces.
Construction of the skyscraper began in 1988 and was completed 4 years later with the installation of the communications antenna. The first tenants occupied their offices as early as May 1992, and the park was opened another six months later. The construction of the city's largest office centre cost $186.5 million.
