Salta, Vicinity’s $780m Retail Rebirth Approved at Richmond

Plans by Salta Properties and Vicinity to redevelop a popular retail centre in inner Melbourne, adding six apartment buildings, have been approved.

The partners have received planning approval from the Victorian Government to redevelop the Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre at Richmond.

The plan includes the creation of a mixed-use precinct with two distinct parts: the Doonside and the Riverside edges.

For the former, much of the existing Victoria Gardens shopping centre will be retained and a new carpark, a market hall and six residential buildings added. 

That will comprise 827 homes across the six buildings in one, two and three bedrooms, with 10 per cent set aside for affordable housing.

The Riverside edge will comprise Salta Properties’ build-to-rent project Riverside at 25 River Boulevard, which has also been approved.

That project will include 476 rental apartments, 6000sq m of communal open space and be 100 per cent renewable energy powered. 

The entire precinct has an estimated construction cost of $780 million.

The plans were submitted through the state’s Development Facilitation Program, which aims to streamline and speed up the planning approval process if affordable housing is included. 

The project is expected to create 390 jobs during construction and more than 1000 jobs during operation. 

▲ A render of the Doonside section of the project.

To date seven residential projects have gone through the fast-track system via the Development Facilitation Program with another 10 applications under assessment and 101 projects in the pre-application phase.

Those seven projects account for 1113 homes with more than 1000 homes across the projects being assessed. 

There are more than 33,000 homes across the 101 projects in the pre-application phase. 

The state leads the nation in home approvals, rising by 3.2 per cent in March, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.