Mayor Rounds on State After Elsternwick Approval

The approval of a residential project for a former ABC Studios site at Elsternwick has drawn fire from a Melbourne council.

Developer Pace and supermarket giant Woolworth’s proposal for 148 apartments at 10-16 Selwyn Street was approved through the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning. Development Fasttrack Program (DFP).

The project will comprise 11-storey and a 10-storey towers. Ten per cent of the apartments will be set aside as affordable housing.

It will have more than 400 carparking bays, more than 100 bicycle storage spaces, a supermarket, retail and office spaces and a community hub that will be part of the Jewish Arts Quarter.

The plans by FK propose selling 15 apartments at a 30 per cent discount through a community housing provider at a cost of $3.6 million.

A previous planning permit granted Pace approval for a 10-storey building of 134 apartments through a 2023 Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) decision.

The City of Glen Eira Council had previously rejected a proposal by Woolworths in 2017 for a larger project.

On news of the approval, City of Glen Eira Mayor Simone Zmood said the Victorian Government had cut the community and stakeholders out of the decision by not having an advisory committee.

“It is deeply concerning that this decision blatantly contradicts the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s own ruling on building heights and residential impacts, raising serious questions about the credibility of decisions being made through this fast-track process with no independent oversight,” Zmood said.

“This decision comes on top of the Victorian Government’s unilateral move to include Elsternwick in its Activity Centres Program—an announcement made without warning while the council’s own Elsternwick Structure Plan was out for public consultation.

▲ A Woods Bagot rendering of Milieu’s residential project at 8 Gordon Street, Elsternwick, also a former ABC site.

“We still have no clarity on how these major state planning decisions will reshape the future of our Elsternwick Activity Centre.”

The 5746sq m site is within walking distance from the Elsternwick Train Station and the 67 tram along Glenhuntly Road.

Woolworths bought the site from the ABC in 2019 for $45 million.

More than 4950 new homes have been fast-tracked through the DFP since it was expanded to cover residential use in September of 2023.

More recently, it has been expanded to cover gas projects and saleyards.

Developers Milieu and Besen bought another former ABC Studio site at 8 Gordon Street also at Elsternwick in 2021 for $28.875 million.