A $100 million, triple-tower retail-apartment complex housing a Little India laneway has been approved by the state’s planning department.
The permit paves the way for the long-awaited first stage of developer Capital Alliance’s $600 million radical revamp of the iconic Indian cultural precinct.
The “village of buildings” with 325 dwellings will stand up to 60 metres tall, with three widely-separated towers of 12 levels, 18 levels and nine levels.
All existing properties on the 8.8 hectare site at 139-157 Thomas Street (abutting Foster and Mason streets and Halpin Way) will be demolished.
Little India will be in a “vibrant new” pedestrianized laneway between Halpin Way and Foster Street, a department assessment stated.
Ground level shops, food and drink outlets will create an “intimate”, “colourful” and “active street environment” and “revitalize the area”.
Dandenong Ward councillor Jim Memeti said the permit approval gave him “small encouragement”, but “I’m not excited yet”.
Cr Memeti urged works to start by this year’s end.
“It’s six years since that we heard Capital Alliance was the Government’s preferred developer.
“The community is anxious about how quickly it will happen and if it will happen.”
Cr Rhonda Garad, of Cleeland Ward, said the news was a “tremendous shot of confidence”, on top of other imminent high-rise apartments and townhouses in the CBD.
“I think this is a way for us to keep our younger generation living here, who otherwise can’t afford to go into the housing market.”
The site will be home to the bulk of 470 apartments promised in Capital Alliance’s total masterplan over the next 16 years.
The first stage comprises 18 studio apartments and 130 one-bedroom, 150 two-bedroom and 24 three-bedroom flats on Thomas and Mason streets.
Ten per cent will be allocated to “affordable housing”.
There will be 675 square metres of communal open spaces, but its landscaping provides well less than the required canopy cover.
It will also include a childcare centre with outdoor space, seen as “pivotal” to support the building’s occupants and attracting a diverse range of households and businesses, according to Greater Dandenong Council’s submission.
The Department of Transport and Planning approved a 54-space reduction in car parking requirements and a 44-bike parking spaces reduction – which Greater Dandenong Council also viewed as “acceptable given the site context”.
There will be 216 basement residential car spaces, 589 commercial car spaces, 69 secured bike spaces and 66 visitor bike spaces.
Overall, the design was of a “high architectural and urban design quality” and “significant positive change in the area”, the department stated.
It would be providing much needed housing and increased population in central Dandenong.
Development Victoria, in its review, stated the complex was a “considered and high-quality” proposal that “maximized activation of the site throughout the day”.
The Capital Alliance project masterplan unveiled in 2022 is expected to unfurl in further stages over the next 16 years – including potentially a hotel/conference centre, a supermarket, food hall and community space, cinema and hospital.
It is considered a key private development adding impetus to the Government’s $290 million Revitalising Central Dandenong project in 2006.
