Queen Victoria Market Refamp to bring thousands of houses to the center of Melbourne – Realestate.com.au

A new district on the largest market in Australia will deliver build-to-rent, student accommodation and affordable homes in the heart of Melbourne.

The federal government has given environmental approval for a new housing in Melbourne’s city center Heritage Landmark Queen Victoria Market (QVM).

Under the leadership of Lendlease in collaboration with the city of Melbourne and student accommodation Company Scape, the development-Gurrowa Place is called a district for mixed use that supplies more than 2200 new houses to the southern edge of the location of the heritage.

In 2023, the city of Melbourne Lendlease then started the preferred development partner and consultation to start the design and use of the area.

Given the national status of the National Heritage List of QVM, the project needed the final approval of the environment of the federal government to continue.

The Master Plan outlines two residential towers, a student accommodation tower and a low -build civilian building next to the market.

The houses on the 3.2-hectare site include 1150 student residences through Scape, 622 Build-to-to-rental apartments and 79 affordable apartments.

As part of this last approval, Lendlease proposed a change in the third building in the Master Plan of the project to include an additional 507 BTR apartments and 55 affordable houses – so that the total number of potential houses was brought to 2413.

The current parking garage will also be converted into a 1.8-hectare park dubbed as a market square. As part of this transformation at the street level, the city of Melbourne will, in collaboration with Lendlease, recover Franklin Street stores to stimulate matters for traders.

According to the Minister of Environment and Water, Murray Watt, the circumstances associated with the development characteristics of the QVM will retain the circumstances.

“Through a well-considered design, this project will offer new and much-needed homes, while this ensures that this Melbourne icon can be enjoyed for many years,” said Mr. Watt.

“The market will continue to offer its famous fresh products for families and visitors to Melbourne, as it has done continuously since 1878. This project offers modern facilities to make the market more accessible and attractive to traders, customers and tourists, without influencing the amount of parking on the site.

“And the development will offer significant heritage benefits for the Queen Vic markets by restoring the historic stores of Franklin Street.”

The district for mixed use will deliver more than 2200 new houses on the southern edge of QVM. Image: Lendlease

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Minster for Housing Clare O’Neill welcomed the project and noted that it “will have a real impact” for housing in the heart of Melbourne.

“This is a fantastic announcement. We have too many regulations on the path of builders that serve no other purpose than to postpone and create more expensive housing. If we are going to build more houses, what is exactly what our government is trying to do,” said Mrs. O’Neill.

Lord Mayor of Melbourne Nicholas Reece said that the project is the greatest development for mixed use in the history of the council.

“Lendlease and the city of Melbourne can now continue with confidence with groundbreaking plans to transform the district – attract thousands of new residents, employees and visitors while stimulating traders,” Mr. Reece said.

“This development will also be a big dent in the home crisis – delivering new houses, including affordable homes that the city desperately needs.”

Now the project has the final approval, the site work is expected to start in 2026.

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