Cade Lucas
The owner of a long derelict ‘eyesore’ in central Footscray is in the sights of a newly elected Maribyrnong councillor who wants them to develop or sell it.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said new Greens representative for Saltwater ward Samantha Meredith of the former Forges building on Adams Street.
“It’s in the heart of Footscray.”
The one hectare property opposite Footscray Plaza has been unoccupied since 2009 and owned by the Banco Group since 2012 and is often used as an example of Footscray’s land banking problem, an investment strategy where parcels of land are bought and deliberately kept empty or undeveloped.
Prior to being elected, councillor Meredith, as a member of the Footscray Community Action Group wrote to both the Banco Group and Planning Minister Sonia Killkenny to try and get the Forges building and other properties suspected of being land banked, developed.
“It just goes around in circles,” said a frustrated Cr Meredith of the responses she received, which have both been seen by the Star Weekly.
In a letter sent on July 2, Banco Group’s Mario LoGiudice said the company had a “rich legacy of enhancing communities in Victoria“ and remained committed to developing the Forges building site.
In 2017 Banco Group secured a planning permit for a mixed use development on the site that included an aged care facility, supermarket and cinema.
That permit is believed to have been extended four times and now expires in 2026.
In the letter, Mr LoGiudice wrote that issues with operators and tenants and the impact of inflation had delayed the developed and it was currently being revised.
However, he denied land banking the property, saying it was not part of Banco Group’s approach.
Cr Meredith is unconvinced.
“It’s all about money,” she said.
“That’s what frustrated me about that email from Banco. They say they are all about the community and I’m like ’no I don’t think so.’ They’re all about money.”
Mr LoGuidice and Banco Group were contacted for comment.
In a response from Ms Killkenny sent on October 13 and seen by Star Weekly, the minister said the issue of land banking was a ultimately a council matter.
It’s one Cr Meredith is keen to take up.
“I’d love to see housing there, I’d love to see the development of shops there as well,” she said of the old Forges building.
“It’s an incredibly important site.”
