Superhub Plan Ushers Sunshine into Spotlight

“Sixty-three million dollars gets you a little bit more than a lick of paint but not a brand new station.” Sarah Connolly, the Member for Laverton, is standing at the top floor of Sunshine’s newest short-stay apartment, Veriu’s Punthill Apartment Hotel Sunshine. From the lobby to the projected images of railway lines in the corridor and the decorated meeting room and uniformed staff, the hotel has been set up to ensure everyone is on the same track at its opening. And this matters because Sunshine, 12km west of Melbourne’s CBD, is growing, partly because railway infrastructure makes it accessible and partly due to policy promises around more investment to turn it into a precinct. One of those promises is to make it the first stop on the Airport Link railway line from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport—and that means Sunshine would also be the first stop for tourists and visitors. That would be something the area has not had before—and developers are betting on it. The Sunshine Station revamp That $63.5 million Connolly is talking about was promised by the Victorian Government as part of the $143-million Sunshine Station Precinct Masterplan, announced in 2022. The funding is to examine a business case and early designs for redeveloping the Sunshine Railway Station. Connolly says the ambitions are grand, to turn the Sunshine station into a superhub in Melbourne’s west much like Southern Cross in the CBD—the second-busiest stop on the metro network after Flinders Street. &ldquo;The $63.5 million is really important because it &rsquo; s going to fund that early development concept-design works for a station, Sunshine Station, that will be a Southern Cross, a super hub of Melbourne &rsquo; s west,&rdquo; Connolly says. --> Sunshine Station is already a hub—the Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo railway lines meet and connect to the metropolitan lines there. The upgrades would include new platforms, track and bridge works as well as improved signalling to allow airport trains to move through. That would make it easier and faster for the various connections. ▲ Renders from concept plans for the Sunshine transport superhub. But the state’s interest in the area doesn’t just stop there—Albion is right next door. “We know that there ’ s an $80-million station upgrade to happen at Albion Station,” Connolly says. “And we ’ re also talking about Albion Quarter as another sort of offset precinct next to the new Sunshine precinct.” But there are those in the industry who are not waiting for the state to act. Opportunities emerge Veriu Group chief executive Zed Sanjana says that Sunshine made sense as a location for a short-stay accommodation offering. “Sunshine is slated to be one of the key satellite CBD locations of Melbourne,” Sanjana says. The was plan for the next 30 years to double the population, add 30,000 jobs and invest more than a billion dollars in infrastructure, which would create many of those jobs and allow more people to live in the area, he says. &ldquo;Over the next 30 years, there &rsquo; s a plan to grow the employment base by 30,000 to grow the population by almost double, by 2050 and over a billion dollars worth of infrastructure spend anticipated for the area which will create a lot of those jobs and employment drivers and places for people to live.&rdquo; --> The Punthill Apartment Hotel sits opposite the Sunshine Railway Station, ideal for the tourists and visitors Sanjana hopes it will bring through. “The revitalised station … will be a super hub station connecting Melbourne CBD to Sunshine, as well as Melbourne International Airport and some regional centres,” Sanjana says. Developers are looking at housing too. SMA Projects collaborated with Veriu to build the Sunshine Apartment Hotel but right behind it on the same site is the next stage of the project: the Sunshine Clayworks project. Designed by Hayball, the Sunshine Clayworks will be a series of build-to-sell townhouses along Thorpe Street. “The west has got so much potential—it ’ s not funny,” SMA Projects director Martin Strode says. “From a developer ’ s point of view, I look at it and I ’ d love to be able to do more.” ▲ Hayball Architects ’ render of SMA Projects townhouse projectat Sunshine. Again, transport networks are a huge factor for Strode. “I remember I came to Sunshine in 2016 when I saw this land advertised and I caught the train out to have a look,” Strode says. “And what I realised was that it was only four stops from Spencer Street Station (Southern Cross Station). “It took me 15 minutes to get out here from the city.” SMA plans to include apartments on the site later on but developers focusing on other asset classes can find opportunities in the area as well. “Sunshine has got a huge amount already of industrial precincts, business parks, which drive a lot of the remote demand today,” Sanjana says. One stop down the line just past the Tottenham Station near West Footscray is where Perri Projects is planning a $1-billion data centre . What is helping developers make their projects feasible is the state investment in other types of infrastructure as well. “One of the other things that ’ s really important for us is public sector investment and that has happened in the area over a number of years, not least of which through some major spending in the public hospital of Sunshine,” Sanjana says. “There ’ s also been the opening of a new private hospital in Sunshine within the past 12 to 18 months.” Connolly thinks there is great development scope for Sunshine due to its proximity to the CBD and the airport, its infrastructure and the hopes around more state investment—it means developers won’t need to look further afield. “All rail networks, all roads lead to Rome,” Connolly says. “And that’s Sunshine.” You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

Superhub Plan Ushers Sunshine into Spotlight

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