This was published 7 years ago
Binks site adds to Footscray unit heat
By Nicole Lindsay
Offshore developer AVIC Group has proposed a $162 million mixed-use estate for the former Binks Ford car yard in Footscray.
The project adds another 400 dwellings to the intense Footscray development zone where a total of 5049 apartments are either in planning, approved, under construction or amid a sales campaign.
Construction of the first of six towers by Growland at Victoria Square is due to commence next year.Credit: Scharp
An estimated $2.6 billion is expected to be spent rebuilding the working-class western suburb – from both public and private sectors – by 2021.
The suburb is changing very quickly. Core Logic data shows house values have grown 8.82 per cent in the past 12 months and apartment values have risen even more by 9.52 per cent.
Going up in Melbourne's western suburbs: artist's impression of developer AVIC Group's planned Cowper Residences in Footscray.
This week's soft release of the Cowper Residences project closely follows last weekend's launch of the huge $600 million Victoria Square by Growland last weekend.
Growland chief executive Ronald Chan said 70 per cent of the 240-apartment first phase of the 1000-unit project had been sold.
"Buyer sentiment is changing rapidly. Interestingly we are seeing a substantial number of purchasers trade their suburban home," Mr Chan said.
"Five years ago the overwhelming majority of purchasers were keen to settle down into a family home and traded location for a big backyard," he said.
According to an analysis of planning documents by Fairfax Media, there are seven projects with 2289 apartments currently for sale in Footscray, a further seven (with 1163 units) are under construction and another 1597 are part-way through the City of Maribyrnong's planning process.
A further 18 projects with 2860 apartments have been approved but sales and marketing campaigns have not yet started.
They are staggering numbers, with high-rise development focused on the activity centre around the railway line. Under the Footscray Structure Plan, up to 7000 new dwellings and 100,000 square metres of commercial space have been envisaged for the centre of the city-fringe suburb, with more than half of those dwellings earmarked for the Joseph Road precinct by the Maribyrnong River.
Other projects in the pipeline in Footscray include Banco Group's $140 million cinema, supermarket and retail complex on the old Forges site at 14 Albert Street, which will be topped with a 120-room nursing home and 202 apartments.
AVIC Group bought the 9042-square-metre site at 34 Cowper Street from state land developer Places Victoria in February 2016, paying $23.88 million.
The City of Maribyrnong issued a permit in April for Cowper Residences, a 403-dwelling project, somewhat smaller than the originally proposed 500 apartments across four towers.
The site is a triangular wedge with the railway line on one border and busy Hopkins Street at its apex.
AVIC is controlled by Chinese-born Cheng Lan Chuah and shareholders Susan Chin and Su Moi Yong, from Malaysia.
The company's representative, FR Chee, told Fairfax Media they had no connection to the Chinese government-owned conglomerate and weapons dealer AVIC Holdings.
"We didn't realise that AVIC is a Chinese government-owned developer. It is an acronym for the company's mission statement: 'all value in creation'," Mr Chee said.
The new master plan designed by ClarkeHopkinsClarke breaks the site into four precincts – 16 three-storey three-bedroom terraces with city views, 10 two-storey two-bedroom SOHOs with home offices, and two apartment buildings with one and two-bedroom apartments.
Mr Chee said owner-occupiers were the Cowper's target market and the project would stand out from the crowd.
"We are going in a different direction. Obviously our site is more for owner-occupiers and our product is geared towards them," he said.