Major Tower Earmarked To Replace Coburg Church

PLANS are afoot to redevelop a prominent former Church abutting the Coburg train station.

At 146 Bell Street, Coburg, the triangle-shaped site is near the corner of Sydney Road, the Pentridge Village redevelopment, and several council-owned sites which form part of the $1 billion Coburg Initiative, one of the largest urban renewal projects outside of central Melbourne.

A council spokesman said the Coburg Initiative will still take place despite the ending of a joint venture agreement with local developer Equiset last year. The project may have included sinking the Coburg train station opposite 146 Bell Street to develop a new apartment-based village above.

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ALP’s Commission Flat Building Boom Underway Without Community Consultation

THE Federal Government’s contentious plan to build record amounts of commission flats and social housing around your streets, and without proper community consultation – seems to finally have caught the attention of the wider community.

Despite anger in some States that details about the mass roll-out of commission flats have been deliberately kept from the community – the State ALP governments are pushing ahead with major public housing projects.

State governments need to do so in an attempt to collect part of the massive taxpayer-funded $5.6 billion the Federal ALP government has allocated to the initiative, for projects completed before a 2012 deadline.

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Federal Government’s Beleagured NRAS Suffers Another Setback

THE federal government’s ailing National Rental Affordability Scheme has suffered a convenient setback.

The $623 million initiative – introduced by Kevin Rudd in 2008, and then part-cut by Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan in recent budgets – has lost another private sector backer which was to have provided 255 affordable housing units in Coburg.

Developer Hamton, with joint venture partner Macquarie Real Estate Investment Equity Fund, has quietly rescheduled the start date of its contentious Coburg High School redevelopment – Circa (artist impression, above).

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Coles Makes Major Purchase in Coburg

COLES Group Property Developments is understood to have paid about $6 million for a major retail development site in Coburg.

The 1.75 hectare property at 180 – 196 Gaffney Street also has access to Sussex, Lens and Marion streets – making it a prime site for a mixed use project including apartments and offices, as well as a supermarket-based shopping centre.

The site is currently a collection of industrial warehouses spread across fifteen titles.

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