Plans have been revealed for a 10-storey apartment building on a parcel of Footscray land that residents had been pushing to turn into a park.
Residential developers Keystone Property Group, which bought the site at 94-104 Buckley Street from the state government, has submitted plans to Maribyrnong council to use the land to build 121 apartments atop four retail stores.
The 2736-square metre site was acquired by the state government during construction of the Regional Rail Link and sold to Keystone for just under $5 million.
About 80 homes and businesses along and near Buckley Street were bulldozed to make way for the project.
Maribyrnong council last year baulked at buying the land for public open space after the state government said it would need to pay close to $5.5 million to secure the site.
Keystone is in the process of building the adjacent eight-storey The Buckley development.
A town planning report submitted with the new application cites the site as “an ideal candidate” for infill redevelopment.
“It is a site, which by virtue of its size and configuration, presents a unique opportunity for a development of significant scale and intensity.
“There are few, if any other vacant sites located within the FMAC [Footscray Metropolitan Activity Centre] which would be comparable to the subject site in this regard.”
Resident Daniell Flood, who led the push for the land to be opened up as a park, warned the proposal would help Buckley Street become “a tunnel of towers filled with port trucks”.
Property developer Evolve recently spent $8.51 million to acquire land at 130-186 Buckley Street and the state government has also sold a 646-square metre site at 112 Buckley Street to an investor for $1.425 million.
