Hotspots: Lygon Street, East Brunswick

If I were to simply mention Lygon Street, most would automatically assume I was talking about Little Italia in Carlton. Approximately 2km North of the cafés, pizzerias and gelato shoppes of Carlton, Lygon Street, East Brunswick has turned into a nightlife and development hotspot. Truth be known Lygon Street is the border of Brunswick and East Brunswick however many of the locals simply refer to both sides of the street as East Brunswick, much like Smith Street is the border between Fitzroy and Collingwood and "Smith St Collingwood" is the generally accepted locale reference, 

The 1.2 km stretch of Lygon Street intersecting with Brunswick Road to the south and Albion Street to the north is a hotbed of bars & pubs, wholesale outlets, restaurants, brothels, unique retailers, derelict buildings, some remnant light industry - you name it, it's got it. Of particular interest to the myself and other UM staff members are the breweries and craft beer venues that have recently flourished, yet the area is also seeing substantial interest from developers keen to leverage off this neighbourhood's appeal and as UrbanMelbourne does, we've tracked all major projects from proposal through to construction.

UrbanMelbourne earlier this year touched upon the Transforming Australian Cities strategy that aims to focus higher-density development along existing public transport corridors and the strategy maintains new development should be low to mid-rise.  Blessed with 2 tram routes running on the one track - the #1 and #8 - Lygon Street sees very high frequency of service between Moreland Road (further north) to  Swanston Street where the two lines merge with others tram services at Melbourne University.  Throw in a healthy mix of cross-town bus routes on key East-West arterials, although many of the individual bus routes could be improved, an existing & thriving retail sector and you have a recipe which can sustain a higher residential and working population.

As the gallery (page bottom) shows, many recent builds and new apartments are forming a street wall approximately 3-4 levels high, with setbacks forming small-scale towers beyond - this is important as it demonstrates we can build more density into existing areas whilst maintaining streetscape sun penetration.

To date Lygon Street has mainly attracted residential development, but one wonders if this will always remain the case given the excellent connectivity and general appeal of the area.  Below is a list of the projects UrbanMelbourne is monitoring and no doubt there'll be many more to come over the years.

Upper Lygon - 457-459 Lygon Street.

Under Construction

Kale Apartments - 455 Lygon Street.

Registration & Sales

Stratus - 360 Lygon Street.

Under construction

The East - 280 Lygon Street.

Registration & Sales

Joulia - 200 Lygon Street

Under Construction

Tip Top - 170 Edward Street

Under Construction

11-13 Lygon Street

Approved

6-20 Lygon Street

Approved

Below is a gallery of some recent construction images taken by UrbanMelbourne.info staff on Lygon Street, East Brunswick