New Proposal For Mitcham High Rise Site
Whitehorse City Council has confirmed it is assessing a new planning application, for the Colombo Street site, which made headlines in 2004 when it was earmarked for a 17-level, and 11-level apartment building, with a total of 199 units.
The new proposal will rise no higher than 7-levels, but will still include about 200 units, a council spokesman told Secret Agent. Speculation the development would be a student accommodation facility could not be confirmed.
It was just over four years ago the Supreme Court controversially supported a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision to approve the two high rise towers for the 4,000 square metre site.
VCAT’s decision defied Whitehorse City Council recommendations the size of the project be substantially reduced.
Locals branded the project “The Mitcham Monster”, and filed more than 600 objections. The Mitcham project never got off the ground.
However that landmark decision – which cited the then-new Melbourne 2030 planning blueprint encouraging higher density development around existing transport nodes – started a wave of major development proposals in the suburbs.
As well as Mitcham, Whitehorse City Council is currently reviewing an application for a 38-level building behind the Centro Box Hill shopping centre. If approved, that building could be Melbourne’s tallest, outside of the CBD.
A Golden Ridge Investments spokesman declined to comment on its plans for the Mitcham site. It is expected the company will try to sell the block, if it obtains a permit.
The troubled Mitcham property failed to sell as a retail development site in 2007, despite reports supermarket giants Woolworths and Aldi were separately vying for the asset, for a price of about $3.5 million.
