PLACES Victoria has vowed it will continue with its Footscray and Maribyrnong projects despite internal upheaval.
The state government property developer owns the former Binks Ford site near Footscray railway station and the Le Mans Toyota site on Hopkins Road.
It is also responsible for the former Maribyrnong Defence site, where 3000 new homes are due to be developed.
The authority lost more than $18 million last financial year and will reduce its staff by half.
General manager (neighbourhood) Greg Antoniadis says Places Victoria wants a builder or developer to jointly develop the Binks Ford site. “Once a joint venture partner has been appointed, Places Victoria and the development partner will jointly prepare a master plan for the site,” he said.
“Places Victoria’s vision for the site is to create a vibrant community offering multiple housing choices centred on a series of pocket parks and pedestrian-friendly streetscapes.”
The authority is also about to submit a town planning permit application for a mixed use, predominantly residential development on the Le Mans site, which it bought for $21 million.
Western suburbs MP Bernie Finn raised the issue of the 128-hectare Maribyrnong Defence site in State Parliament last week.
He called on the Planning Minister Matthew Guy to meet Maribyrnong Council and pressure the federal government.
He said redevelopment had been stalled and would continue to be so until the government provided money to clean up the heavily contaminated land.
A spokeswoman for federal Maribyrnong MP Bill Shorten said Defence had made significant progress on developing a remediation action plan for the clean-up.
“Defence expects that the project to remediate the property will be referred to the parliamentary standing committee on public works in late 2013,” she said.—Benjamin Millar
