Riverside Chunk of Industrial Land Rezoned For Redevelopment, Kensington, Melbourne

ANOTHER chunk of former industrial land in Kensington is on track to being replaced with apartments.

At 1-89 Hobsons Road, abutting the Maribyrnong River, and between the train line and Lynch’s Bridge, five hectares of land belonging to six separate owners has been rezoned to allow for mixed-use redevelopment.

The land is diagonally opposite a 15-hectare Footscray parcel across the Maribyrnong River known as the Joseph Road precinct, which has recently been earmarked for intense apartment development.

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Major 24-Level Skyscraper Proposed For Footscray

SPOTTING Footscray from the CBD, Geelong, Melbourne Airport, or any building in metropolitan Melbourne with a westerly outlook may be a lot easier from next year.

New planning minister Matthew Guy is reviewing an application for a 24-level, 222-unit complex which, if approved, would be the most ambitious skyscraper ever built in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

The $90 million proposal, which will also include ground floor shops and a five-level underground car park will replace a double-storey factory bound by Moreland and Warde streets, and Neilson Place. The site is west of the Le Mans Toyota dealership which recently sold for $21 million to the state government’s development arm, VicUrban.

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Another Church Bows to Pressure For Medium Density Residential

YET another house of worship is deferring to the medium density redevelopment trend.

This time, in West Footscray, a former Uniting Church on the corner of Ormond and Glamis roads will be pulled down and replaced with 12 double-storey townhouses, in a development called Trugo.

Two bedroom townhouses start from $499,000. Prices rise for three bedroom units, available from $570,000, and the biggest four bedroom homes, which start at $670,000.

JG King Projects is redeveloping the church. Building manager Ryan L’Huillier says Trugo will set a new benchmark for townhouse living in Melbourne’s west.

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Major Riverfront Footscray Site Hits The Market

IT’S bad enough if the site next-door to the one you just bought gets listed for sale, targeting developers.

It’s worse when you just spent $21 million of taxpayer money, and if the redevelopment next door robs the million dollar views you planned to exploit in your own marketing.

Sadly this is what’s happening on the Footscray waterfront right now.

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Lonely Planet Global Headquarters on the Market, Melbourne

TRILOGY Funds Management is expecting about $17 million from the sale of a riverside office asset occupied as the global headquarters of travel publisher Lonely Planet.

The prime located site at 90 Maribyrnong Street includes a 7293 square metre office, 86 car spaces, and will be sold with a new six year lease to Lonely Planet, which pays a current annual rent of $1.53 million.

Lonely Planet relocated to the converted Footscray building in 2000, from Hawthorn.

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Victorian State Government Pays $21 Million For Riverfront Development Site, Footscray

AS PART of its push to ensure there is a 20 – 25 year supply of land available for residential development, the new state government’s development agency, VicUrban, has outmuscled developers for one of the western suburb’s most prominent future development sites.

VicUrban is believed to be paying about $21 million for the outgoing Le Mans Toyota car dealership, overlooking the banks of the Maribyrnong River and at the suburb border of Footscray and West Melbourne.

The 1.3 hectare site is opposite the Hopetoun Bridge, which connects Hopkins Street to Dynon Road, near Melbourne’s Market precinct.

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Palms Motel Footscray Sells For $3.2 Million

THE Footscray motel which was until recently to have become Melbourne’s next commission flat complex, has sold to an investor for $3.2 million, and is expected to be re-opened as a hospitality business.

On a 2985 square metre block at the corner of Geelong Road and Catherine Street, the former Palms Motel is near Victoria University, central Footscray and the Maribyrnong River.

The Department of Human Services which is increasingly leasing hotel and motel rooms and facilities to satisfy its growing public housing waiting list, had co-ordinated a lease for the Palms Hotel.

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Auspac Buys Footscray Supersite

AUSPAC Properties has created a supersite in Footscray, after paying $6.2 million for two properties, abutting another block it already owns.

Auspac’s purchase of two sites at 18 Hopkins Street, and 20 Moreland Street, gives the developer a massive chunk of the inner-western suburb, which has seen rampant development activity over the past five years – some even through the economic downturn.

Colliers International’s Jeremy Gruzewski, who marketed the site with Peter Bremner, said seven offers were receievd, from both established developers, and “new players”.

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Australian Unity Sells Footscray Plaza Shopping Centre For Speculated $20 Million

Footscray PlazaAUSTRALIAN Unity is understood to have made about $20 million from the sale of its Footscray Plaza complex, at a busy intersection, in the burgeoning western suburb.

Private development company Banco Group, headed by Mario Lo Guidice, confirmed he purchased the 13,968 square metre plaza, at the busy corner of Paisley and Albert streets.

Coles and K-Mart are the two biggest tenants in the centre, occupying about 84 per cent of Gross Lettable Area.

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Former Flinkiers Footscray Site Sold to Residential Developer

Footscray stationA massive Footscray property – occupied for years by used car dealership Flinkiers – has sold for $5.25 million, and is expected to be developed into one of the inner-city suburb’s tallest buildings.

Fitzroys selling agent Julian Heatherich said a private developer has snapped up the 5,320 square metre development site, which fronts Hopkins, Whitehall and Warde streets, about five kilometres west of town and near the Maribyrnong River and West Melbourne suburb border.

The site is expected to make way for a 10-level mixed use building incorporating ground floor retail, and apartments and which would offer postcard CBD views over the river.

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