This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
DEVELOPER Perri Projects has received unanimous approval from the City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee for its $600 million master planned urban renewal project on the Maribyrnong River.
West Melbourne Waterfront will feature 600 residential apartments set over seven buildings, office space, a boutique hotel, retail options and over 11,000 sqm of architecturally designed public realm spaces.
Renewal and greening of industrial land that is central to the project will see the transformation of some 230 sqm of waterfront currently inaccessible to the community into a new meeting place, and introduce a large new waterfront piazza and pedestrian boulevard of over 2,000 sqm.
Perri Projects touted the project as a “true 20-minute community”, within walking distance from 18 public transport nodes, 24 education facilities, 16 health facilities and 5 parks.
About 800 metres of new bike and pedestrian paths are in the plans, along with upgrades to existing Kensington Rd bike paths, bus stops and footpaths.
Up to 1,100 jobs will be created across 20,000 sqm of commercial floor space, located one train stop away from the Melbourne CBD. About 500 jobs will be created over the next five years through the design and construction phases.
The project’s location at 156-232 Kensington Rd is across the river from the Heavenly Queen Temple in Footscray.
Construction on the master planned project in 2021.
“West Melbourne Waterfront represents a once in a generation opportunity for a sustainable community development defined by best-practice place-making principles, on the banks of the Maribyrnong River,” director of Perri Projects, David Scalzo said.
Perri Projects has appointed international architectural design and engineering firm, Foster + Partners, to design the precinct, in what will be the firm’s first Melbourne project.
Closer to the CBD, 50 hectares of industrial land will be rezoned to accommodate 34,000 jobs and 15,000 new residents by 2050, revolving around the new Arden Metro tunnel station. Initial plans for the Draft Arden Precinct Structure Plan were estimated at $7 billion were released in 2016.
In 2017, the Victorian government rezoned industrial land on the edge of the CBD for the new suburb of Macaulay, adjoining Arden, which the state government said would become home to 10,000 residents and 9,500 jobs by 2051.
