Growland Group readies Joseph Place as Footscray's next super project
Footscray is set to accommodate another massive apartment project within the Joseph Road Precinct Urban Renewal Area as developer Growland Group prepares to launch Joseph Place.
Set over a 13,500 square metre former Toyota dealership, the site is currently in the final stages of remediation with the beginnings of a display suite taking shape. It's purpose will be to woo prospective buyers for Joseph Place's apartments which number near on 1,000.
The $600 million mixed-use master planned urban village which is expected to house up to 3,000 residents eventually will consist of six buildings, in addition to amenities such as Melbourne’s first elevated Olympic-sized running track, podium-top gardens and amenities and a retail laneway linking Footscray to the Maribyrnong River.
4-8 Hopkins Street has been in the planning system since 2013 with Places Victoria initiating a master planned outcome for the site which along with neighbouring sites forms the backbone of Joseph Road Precinct. Kavellaris Urban Design has been working on Joseph Place as project lead for an extended period of time with State Goverment approval for the development in the offing.
In addition to the roughly 1,000 apartments, a hotel has also been mooted for Joseph Place. Ground level will see 30 retailers split over 4,000 square metres of retail space and public open spaces, with an emphasis on food-driven outlets, continuing the trend of popular eateries in and around the area.
Joseph Place will elevate what’s on offer in Footscray, bringing its amenity in line with its inner city neighbours. The elevated Olympic-sized running track takes the idea of an apartment gym to the next level, encouraging health and wellbeing outdoors, but not out in the Melbourne traffic.
The aim is to do something different and bring to Footscray a new style of living that celebrates connection and resonates with Footscray’s existing multicultural heritage and established food scene.
People want to interact with each other – it’s partly why cities are growing so rapidly and it informed how we approached the design of this site. We want this area to become a social, economic and residential hub on the city fringe that makes people’s lives better – and that’s achievable through a combination of great housing, world-class amenity and vibrant retail.
Kavellaris Urban Design director Billy Kavellaris
Joseph Place will also likely include a rock climbing wall and theatre, with the array of amenities onsite possible due to the excessively large size of the site.
In early design iterations Joseph Place was to have maintained an all glass exterior, although new renders have seen the project's exterior change markedly in composition but not so in shape. Joseph Place's buildings will still carry an eye-catching undulating form.
Growland Group's advancement of Joseph Place comes as the expanding developer is working on further apartment projects in Moonee Ponds, St Kilda Road and Highett, with the latter recently covered by Urban.com.au, although Joseph Place is expected to be the first project to launch sales.
Footscray is currently in the midst of a demographic shift - attracting a new wave of students, young professionals and working families who are looking to reside in a well-connected community with easy access to transport services and state-of-the-art retail, dining and leisure facilities on their doorstep.
The inner west has been recognised as one of Melbourne’s most undervalued opportunities and is due for rapid growth over the next two to five years. The future growth potential of Footscray is huge and Joseph Place signals a renaissance in the area.
Growland CEO Stephen Yau
Pending approval the project's sales campaign will be launched in coming months with construction expected to begin in early 2017.