Retail Dropped for Homes Under Maribyrnong Revision

A partially completed mixed-use development in Melbourne’s north-west is being recalibrated to ditch ground-floor retail in favour of 27 apartments and NDIS housing.

Tzouvelis Holdings has filed a Section 72 amendment with Maribyrnong City Council to rework Stage 2 of the project at 421-449 Gordon Street, Maribyrnong, 7km from the Melbourne CBD.

It seeks to lift the apartment count from 51 to 78, replacing 460sq m of cafe and commercial space with housing.

The development, which has had a complex delivery path, is proposed for a 5056sq m site in the Edgewater Neighbourhood Activity Centre.

Tzouvelis Holdings acquired the unbuilt Stage 2 portion in May 2025 for $3.4 million through Stonebridge Property Group. It settled in December.

The Stage 2 land was previously held by Footscray Land Limited, a subsidiary of Lendlease Corporation, which developed the broader 95ha Edgewater masterplanned community along the Maribyrnong River.

Stage 1 of the Gordon Street project, comprising 11 townhouses on the southern portion (pictured below), has been completed, leaving the northern half—a six-storey apartment building planned under the original 2017 approval—unbuilt.

A revised scheme for Stage 2 was prepared by Point Architects and would deliver 62 standard apartments across six levels, the majority of which would be two-bedroom layouts with a smaller proportion of one-bedroom units.

The reworked floorplates aim for more efficient layouts without reducing apartment sizes, steering clear of a “micro-unit” model, according to documents.

The amendment also proposes adding 4m to the height to the Stage 2 building to accommodate a new lift core.

Removing the retail component would allow the ground floor to accommodate five NDIS apartments designed to meet Specialist Disability Accommodation standards.

The amended application said there was difficulty securing tenants for small-format retail at the site and highlighted the lack of demonstrated market demand for new cafe or commercial floor space in the precinct.

Ratio Consultants, which prepared the amended planning report, said that aside from weak retail feasibility in the area, the amendment also responded to construction cost inflation.

According to that report, the changes would not only align with state and local housing diversity policies but also improve project feasibility.

The site is in a Commercial 1 Zone with dual frontages to Gordon Street—a major arterial road—and William Cooper Street.

The project joins a wave of development activity in the Maribyrnong region.

Icon has secured ongoing works for Investa and Oxford Properties Group’s 702-apartment Indi Footscray build-to-rent project at 3 McNab Avenue, which topped out in December 2024 after builder Roberts Co’s collapse left the three-tower scheme unfinished.

Meanwhile, Fabcot secured VCAT approval in May for a Woolworths-anchored retail centre at 495-507 Barkly Street at West Footscray, despite concerns around the lack of residential components in the mixed-use zoned site.