by Sahar Foladi
A “super site” in Springvale’s activity centre is up on the market potentially to implement the calls for more high-rise buildings and apartments in activity centres.
Listed by First National Hall and Partners, it consists of 15 titles at 7, 9 and 11 Balmoral Avenue, 12 Queens Avenue and 1-3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13-15 and 17-19 Buckingham Avenue, allowing for an enormous block for a potential high rise.
The site, up for auction on 5 June, is bisected by a Council-owned laneway which developers might request to buy separately from the council.
This comes weeks after Premier Jacinta Allan’s announcement of new ‘train and tram zone’ activity centres to help local governments achieve targets of 52,700 new homes in Greater Dandenong by 2051.
Springvale, Noble Park, Dandenong and Yarraman are included in the train and tram zone activity centres.
It encourages high rise builds to answer calls to address the housing crisis.
For instance, a recently announced train-zone activity centre in Moorabbin will allow up to 12 storeys for “large opportunity sites”.
Greater Dandenong Council’s city futures executive director Sanjay Manivasagasivam says prior to the activity centre announcement, the Springvale site allowed for up to eight storeys as part of the Springvale Structure Plan.
“Exact details of the State Government’s newly announced Train and Tram Zone have not been provided yet.
“We are not aware of any applications for this site and would require an application before we could consider the appropriateness of it.”
Vincent Golf, a listing and selling agent at First National Hall and Partners, says the site has potential to be more than eight storeys.
“This is ground-breaking stuff, there’s no real tall building within the retail centre.
“Because this particular site now is under the Government’s umbrella, they will dictate what the height limits are.
“It might be 12,16 or 20 but it would make for a lovely redevelopment.
“I believe the Government’s going to come out with something early next year in relation to a new structure plan. I believe cthe ouncil maybe on foot with it as well….”
Another site on Balmoral Avenue was granted a permit for 10-storey high-rises as part of a mixed-use development almost eight years ago. But it is yet to come to fruition.
Dr Benno Engels is a senior lecturer within the Urban Planning program at the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University.
Asked about the site’s possibility for more than 12 storeys, he says this will be a first compared to another booming suburb with an Asian-majority population, Glen Waverley.
“Glen Waverley has a history of densifying and building apartments close to where the railway line terminates, but it hasn’t exceeded I think eight floors.
“Whereas if we go to Box Hill, it has been purposely developed and designed like this for now over 20 years.
“It’s probably much too early for any of us to speculate whether the 12 storeys is going to succeed or not or if it’s going to go higher.”
However, Dr Engels says he has some “reservations” on the potential apartments’ affordability given its prime location and reduced car park spaces which is a huge issue due to Springvale’s congestion.
According to the activity centre policy, it is suggested to waive the need to have increased car park spaces to these densified developments as it’s in close distance to the train station, Dr Engels says.
“It has the potential to work if we ensure that the bus service and the train services continue to improve however, that’s not always an ideal solution.
“It’s very likely that the amount of car parking that’ll be required will be significantly reduced, which means it’s going to be cheaper for the developer to actually put up that eight storey to 12 storey high rise apartment building.
“In an ideal world with 9am-5pm people going to work and coming home, picking up children, it will work. But outside of those sorts of normal hours then there are all sorts of family arrangements that require use of car.
“For me, that’s still sending a warning signal that it’s not going to be generally accessible to the struggling family that might want to try to live in that area unless the state government is going to somehow put in provisions for social housing.
“A certain proportion of that development might have to be allocated to social housing.”
Addressing congestion and car parking in Springvale are the top priorities for Springvale North councillor Sean O’Reilly.
He says he likes the idea of the high-rise but will remain open-minded until he gathers all the information on it.
The council’s Springvale Activity Centre Structure Plan 2017 astates the area’s-built form is currently lower scale.
It generally consists of one and two storey shopfronts with apartment buildings of up to four storeys either constructed or approved for construction.
However the structure plan sets maximum preferred heights for certain sites south of the railway line of up to 10 storeys and identifies sites north of the railway of up to 12 storeys.
