A render showing the planned 11-storey tower headed to 10-16 Selwyn St, Elsternwick. Picture: Pace Development Group.
Elsternwick is set for a huge new, 11-storey tower after the Victorian government fast-tracked a $150m development of a former ABC complex that hosted iconic TV show Countdown.
Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny has approved the controversial plan including 148 homes retail and office spaces, and 400-plus car parks atop a new Woolworths supermarket at the ex-ABC site, under the state’s Development Facilitation Program.
It aims to streamline the planning process for projects that will increase Victoria’s pipeline of residences.
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The development at 10-16 Selwyn St is located within the state government’s future Activity Centre designated for the Elsternwick train station and tram zone, one of 50 earmarked for increased housing density across Melbourne.
While community consultation is yet to happen for the Elsternwick area, some of the other activity zones are expected to potentially have buildings of up to 15 to 20 levels constructed.
Previous plans for the Selwyn St site had also been set to add soaring towers, but prompted significant community backlash and didn’t proceed.
Records show the ABC sold the address for about $51.7m in 2017, after using it for recordings of Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering.
King Charles, then Prince Charles, with Molly Meldrum on Countdown in 1977. Picture: ABC.
The expansive site will be developed above a planned ground-floor Woolworths.
Countdown, a show hosted by music and TV industry legend Molly Meldrum in the 1970s and 1980s, was also sometimes filmed at the studio, warehouse and office site in addition to another nearby ex-ABC studio on Gordon St.
In 2019, a group of residents held multiple protests against an earlier proposal to build two towers at the Selwyn St location amid overdevelopment fears.
The newest plan features a mix of one, two and three-bedroom residences, with 10 per cent of the homes to be designated as affordable.
A section of the development is set to become a community hub as part of Selwyn St’s Jewish Arts Quarter.
Planning documents prepared on behalf of Pace Development Group – who are developing the site on behalf of Woolworths – state that the hub will include a function space, museum and library.
The Selwyn St site will be significantly upsized as part of the redevelopment. Picture: Pace Development Group.
The former ABC building when it was listed for sale almost a decade ago.
In addition to the studios, a heritage-listed former fire station on the site will be restored and repurposed as a BWS liquor store after Heritage Victoria green lit the suggestion.
The development is close to the Elsternwick train station and other public transport.
The planning documents state that the development is located in area where existing building heights range from one to 11 storeys.
More than 4950 new homes have been fast-tracked through the Development Facilitation Program since September 2023.
“Victorians are telling us they want more homes in well-connected areas – and this project will deliver almost 150 homes right in the heart of Elsternwick, close to the train station, tram and bus stops,” Ms Kilkenny said.
Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny during a press conference with Sunbury MP Josh Bull and Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: NewsWire/Aaron Francis.
A local business operator, who asked not to be named, said although many residents were against too much development in the beachside suburb, there was a need for more density in Melbourne to help combat the housing crisis — and it should have been made taller.
“If Australia is genuine about solving the housing crisis, they will have to put up with density,” they said.
“And if ever there was a perfect site for density, it’s this one.”
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