An apartment boom is on the horizon for Footscray, with 1371 new units approved last year.
Footscray unit approvals in 2015 were the highest in Melbourne outside the CBD, Docklands and Southbank, according to building data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
And the pace of development is likely to continue, with developer Banco Properties recently paying $22 million for the 1.4 hectare Ryco Hydraulics site on Whitehall Street, where shops, offices and 507 units are planned in five towers ranging up to eight storeys.
Places Victoria this month sold the 0.9 hectare former Binks Ford site in Cowper Street for a reported $21 million.
The state government has 14 other Footscray sites listed as ‘land being prepared for future sale’.
A number of these are in the Joseph Road precinct and a handful around Middle Footscray Station.
Maribyrnong council director of planning services Nigel Higgins said the council had regular discussions with the state government over sites for sale.
A report to Tuesday’s city development special committee recommended the council lodge an expression of interest on two parcels of land in the Joseph Road precinct, valued about $900,000, to create new open space for up to 4000 new residents expected to move into the development.
with The Age
