Melbourne’s Most Reinvented Suburbs

Beacon Cove, Port MelbourneONE has to wonder what “great Australian dream” some Melburnians were being sold last century.

Until recently – the 1980s and 1990s for most inner-city areas – owning an inner-city terrace was not necessarily a big deal. More often than not, according to veteran agents, they were used as “stepping stone” investments that could be paid off in a few years and sold on the basis of being “more attractive than renting”.

Buyers – particularly immigrants from Italy and Greece – bought in Richmond, North Fitzroy or Northcote, in order to save a deposit to build new, larger homes in Avondale Heights, Glenroy or – if they invested well – Doncaster.

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New Plan for 33-Level Skyscraper in Suburban Melbourne

NEW plans are in the works to redevelop the Box Hill car park which four years ago was earmarked to become suburban Melbourne’s tallest skyscraper.

Developer AXF Group is in discussion with the Whitehorse City Council to build another landmark project at the 545 Station Street site, near the corner of Whitehorse Road and behind the Centro Box Hill shopping centre, which is atop the busy train station.

In 2008, The Age reported plans by the site owner to replace the 2417 square metre site, currently an open-air car park, with a 39-level tower, offering office and retail space, as well as an unconfirmed number of apartments (some of which would have been managed as hotel suites) estimated by some to be a couple of hundred.

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Office of Housing Buys Former Box Hill Aged Care Facility

287 Station StreetTHE Office of Housing has paid close to $4 million for a disused aged care facility in Box Hill.

Dwellings on the 2480 square metre site, opposite the Box Hill Tennis Club and near the Surrey Hills and Burwood suburb borders, are expected to be refurbished before being made available to public housing tenants.

The purchase continues a trend of the Federal Government, and associated public housing service providers snapping up prevalent development sites all around Melbourne and Victoria.

Some of the biggest public housing projects are currently under construction in Abbotsford, Ashwood, Carlton, Ringwood and Wonthaggi.

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Former Government Pound Hits Market as Development Site

A MAJOR development site offloaded by the State Government six years ago for $2.8 million, has hit the market again, and is expected to sell for almost twice that amount.

The former Box Hill dog pound at the south-east corner of Canterbury Road and Hay Street is being offloaded by retirement village operators, who have decided against building a major 76-unit aged care facility on the site.

The block will be sold with two permits – allowing for an aged care redevelopment, or a more medium density traditional residential development with ground floor shops.

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Dry Zones Facing Extinction in Melbourne’s East

RESIDENTS in Melbourne’s ritzy east are increasingly voting to remove the “dry zone” restrictions around their streets, in what could result in the government and council putting forward a ballot, to remove these zones altogether.

The Director of Liquor Licensing, via the Victorian Electoral Commission, this week distributed ballot papers asking residents to vote for, or against, a liquor licence application at 732 Burke Road – or on the “dry side” of the popular retail strip.

Any venue in a dry zone that wishes to obtain a liquor licence needs to win approval of local residents on a case-by-case basis.

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Landmark Decision to Build 38-Level Apartment Building in Melbourne’s Suburbs

Justin MaddenBOX Hill will be identifiable from almost all of Melbourne, after the Victorian Planning Minster Justin Madden “called in” a controversial 38-level tower, behind the Box Hill train station.

The tower would be the tallest outside of the CBD and St Kilda Road area, and is one of two projects called in by the Minister this month.

The other sped-through project is a $100 million homemaker centre in Springvale, in Melbourne’s south-east.

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Whitehorse City Council Rejects 38-Level Box Hill Proposal

PLANS for a 38-level building in suburban Box Hill were rejected by the Whitehorse City Council this week and will now be decided by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
 
The proposed 133-metre tower, earmarked for an open air car park behind Centro Box Hill Shopping Centre, will include 232 apartments, 176 hotel suites, 4350 square metres of offices and about 4,110 square metres of retail space.

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