It seems unlikely at this point that the possibility of about 200 apartments going up on the site of what is currently 501 Receptions will generate the same kind of uproar that greeted the developmental threat to the Dancing Dog building.
Still, doing a story about those plans has seen me engage in a number of interesting conversations about urban living and planning.
No one I’ve talked to is opposed to development – but that support usually comes with a proviso that new buildings be of high quality and intelligently designed.
There’s the rub …
One intensely interested West Footscray local also brought into focus for me the fact that the 501 Receptions proposal is just one of many changes taking place within a very small area.
I had been at least subliminally aware of most of them, unaware of others – but taken as a whole, they certainly signal a neighbourhood in transition.
What is driving these changes?
Is the demand really there for so many apartments and townhouses – or is there always an element of guesswork in such investments?
I wonder, too, if there is a cadre of long-time landlords and property owners who have been passive investors for decades but who are suddenly feeling the inclination to cash in.
If so, why?
On Barkly Street – between 501 Receptions and Dosa Hut/Dosa Corner, and amid much commercial activity of various kinds – there is a surprisingly high number of residential properties.
I wonder what their future is in a time of neighbourhood flux.
Likewise, how secure is the future for the old Barkly Street churches?
Opposite 540 On Barkly stands what can accurately be called a paddock.
It bears a “for lease” sign.
Further along, and opposite Ovest, is another vacant lot, this one not so big and without signage.
There’s another paddock on the corner of Clive and Russell streets, behind Dosa Corner.
What was once a funky ’60s-style church is now definitely earmarked for apartments, I’m told.
Further along, opoosite West Footscray Vet Clinic, stood for many decades a neighbourhood mechanic.
I’m told that one minute a few weeks back it was there and about 30 later it was gone, the land destined for … apartments and/or townhouses.
According to the vet clinic folks, “people who have been bringing their animals to us for years had been taking their cars there for years”.
Back in the village, the two shops between Dosa Hut and the paint shop are to become townhouses, six of the eight already sold, according to the sign.
According to a post on the Barkly Village Facebook page, the defaced property next to the laundrette is all set to become an amusement parlour – “primary use seems to be for billiards and games machines”.
Also in the village, GM Manchester is adorned with “closing down” signs.
The short-lived Akshaya Indian street food enterprise is giving way to a WeFo branch of Biryani House.
When I have a peek, they look like they’re just about ready to roll …
consider the sauce 
I think just lucky pet is moving across the road into the manchester shop once it closes
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Hi Loren! Yes, I believe that’s correct.
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From what I’ve seen, the lot across the street from Ovest is occasionally used for storage by some guy who looked like a builder. I’m guessing he’s saving up to build a house or two on it.
On the same street about half way down an older house was recently demolished and replaced with two new two storey houses.
Finally, the paddock opposite 540 was originally going to be a big apartment complex, but it seems to have failed before ground was broken.
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Hi Julian and thanks! A reader asked a very pertinent question on FB: For what use could you lease an inner-city paddock?
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Hahahaha!
I see a couple of options that it could be leased for:
1. Car parking
2. Community vegetable garden
3. Nursery
4. Park
These are what I can think of that could be torn down quickly when the developers who own it accumulate enough capital to develop it.
If we were to drop that restriction, we could have things like:
5. Community centre / pool / rec centre
6. Apartments (hahaha)
etc.
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Great stuff! I think I’ll visit the agent tomorrow to get their take on it.
7. Frisbee park.
8. Food truck venue – though I bet the local eateries would freak at the very suggestion.
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Love the community garden and frisbee park idea but doesn’t greed usually prevail?
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Community garden sounds like a fine use for that “for lease” land. Would want to check the soil for contaminants though!
As well as those blocks, Kenny, there’s a former service station site that’s vacant further down Barkly St opposite the Holden dealer. And another ex-servo site at the corner of Barkly & Commercial Rd near Footscray PS. Watch these spaces over coming years…
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We are in the mad rushes of the never ending land bubble, where a combination of international capital & property developers spurred on by ‘The Block’ is reaching breakneck speeds in global cities like Melbs, Vancouver, LA, SF, NY, London and even Madrid is on the way back.
Cycling through Bluestone Ward, Footscray West inspired the Speculative Vacancies report that many now see as a global leader on vacancy. Check the 1st report on Bluestone Ward (2007) – many of these same sites were vacant then. See the following six reports that have discussed how such vacancies aren’t considered vacant by mainstream analysis.
It makes me laugh that Cedar Wood (Banbury Village) has the audacity (after watching them drip feed staged releases over the last 5ish years) to have signage ‘we’ve saved the best till last’ – of course at a much higher Real Estate 4 Ransom price. Each week I talk about these issues on 3CRs Renegade Economists radio show.
Anyways, well done on promoting these issues – isn’t it crazy that council rates ensure the family home pays 30% more in rates than these land bankers? Huh? You can always discuss these issues sitting around the table at the POWer Plants community nursery volunteer session, Sundays 2-4pm. Spiel over.
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Hi Karl and thanks! I’ll try to catch your show.
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