Leigh - 22 Bent Street, Bentleigh

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This is as much an article about the reactions of residents located within areas earmarked for higher density living, as it is the robust shift that areas of Bentleigh is currently subject to in terms of higher density living.

The article heading references the very capable <a href="https://gleneira.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/calcutta-is-here/">Glen Eira Debates</a> blog which casts a comprehensive net of higher density development within City of Glen Eira, albeit in a generally negative context.

The multiple references to suburbs within Glen Eira morphing into 'Caltutta' or Kolkata in the new vernacular, is due to the rise in medium density apartment developments throughout the municipality. Emotions aside, the correlation between Calcutta and Bentleigh, Carnegie or Caulfield is an over exaggeration in the extreme; in 2014 Glen Eira maintained a density of <a href="http://profile.id.com.au/glen-eira">3,725 people per square kilometer</a> while Kolkata held a density of <a href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/kolkata-population/">24,000 people per square kilometer</a>.

Nonetheless, it's understandable that not every person will welcome higher density outcomes in their neck of the woods, but well, the people must go somewhere!

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/slums.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Kolkata and Glen Eira: a tenuous analogy"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="435" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/slums.jpg?itok=fR70M6hU" title="Kolkata and Glen Eira: a tenuous analogy" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Kolkata and Glen Eira: a tenuous analogy</figcaption></figure>While Kolkata may be a stretch, Glen Eira was indeed the big mover in the Urban.com.au Project Database over the course of 2015. Upwards of 35 residential projects were added during the calendar year; a combination of increased development and enhanced planning application detection.

As per most of Melbourne municipalities, Glen Eira is experiencing growth in apartment projects, although Glen Eira projects tend to average 4-5 storeys.

Bent Street is the prime example within Glen Eira of intense redevelopment. A typical suburban street adjacent to a Bentleigh Railway Station and the retail/services of Centre Road, many Bent Street detached dwellings have been cast aside for apartment developments. The question becomes: If not Bent Street, then where? It does seem the ideal location for higher density living.

Clearly there remains some resentment to medium density apartment development, as evidenced by Glen Eira Debates. Yet looking at the issue of adding higher density in appropriate areas in a rational manner and Bent Street is a premier example of appropriate higher density development around an activity node.

A handful of owners on Bent Street looked to be in agreement, <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/bentleigh-trio-sell-their-properties-together-as-one-and-strike-it-rich/story-fni0fit3-1226959184494">selling their combined properties to a residential developer</a> in a high profile outcome.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image1_3.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Bent Street is firmly on the development radar"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="313" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image1_3.jpg?itok=eUknp0hQ" title="Bent Street is firmly on the development radar" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Bent Street is firmly on the development radar</figcaption></figure>This combined site at 14-18 Bent Street went on to become Rita Apartments which is now under construction with builder Xerri set to deliver 50 plus dwellings on what was previously 3.

Rita Bentleigh is joined by XV Apartments at 15 Bent Street, The Bentleigh at 23 Bent Street and Leigh at 22 Bent Street which are either at marketing or construction. Further projects at 10-12 and 11-13 Bent Street have also been approved, totalling approximately 215 apartments with a further project at 20 Bent Street yet to reach a planning outcome.

While 215 dwellings covering a handful of suburban blocks is a meteoric jump in density for Bent Street, is it completely beyond expectations? No building exceeds four levels and Council have ensured all projects meet their planning expectations. It does in fact come across as an excellent case study where density is confined to a specific and appropriate pocket of the suburb.

While Bent Street is the epicentre, adjoining and adjacent streets are also subject to apartment development. Loranne and Mahvo Street will jointly add 70 apartments at the hand of local developer Steller while Vickery Street is subject to two applications that would add a further 57 dwellings.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image6_5.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Leigh, Rita and The Bentleigh are representative of the size and scale of local apartment projects"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="439" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image6_5.jpg?itok=2lMEqzz3" title="Leigh, Rita and The Bentleigh are representative of the size and scale of local apartment projects" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Leigh, Rita and The Bentleigh are representative of the size and scale of local apartment projects</figcaption></figure>Could a person rationally argue that Bent Street's transformation and that of other Glen Eira pockets such as Centre Road or Carnegie's Neerim Road are completely beyond rational expectations?

Mass overdevelopment in certain eyes is structured growth in others. On the face of it, Glen Eira is not so much turning into 'Calcutta', but more so keeping pace with the rest of… Melbourne.
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silvermb

Calcutta is here... in Bentleigh!

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It's very easy to assume that Melbourne is only building skyscrapers and high-rise towers in the inner city and low-density detached housing on the fringes.  Skyscraper proposals attract headlines across a wide range of media outlets but there's an equally huge story of Melbourne's current development scene that is easily overlooked.

What of the middle ground between skyscraper or sprawl?  There are in fact hundreds of small stature apartment projects in Melbourne's suburbs that are easily glossed over.

At the time of writing there are 983 projects listed on the Urban.com.au Project Database.  208 of those are made up of either 2, 3 or 4 floors and when combined contain over 7,000 dwellings across all phases of the development cycle: that is from planning to construction.

If the search criteria is expanded to include projects up to and including 5 floors, the total number of projects rockets up to 339 with over 12,000 dwellings in play.

The following (long!) list is every low-rise project with either 2, 3 or 4 floors that Urban.com.au is tracking on within our  <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/developments">Project Database</a>.  <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/">Data Portal</a> subscribers can pull this information directly by exporting the database and filtering through a spreadsheet program like Excel or OpenOffice Calc.

I'm going to let the database do the talking from this point on - so get off your mobile, turn your tablet to portrait layout or jump on a desktop/laptop: here's Melbourne's low-rise high-density story.
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Alastair Taylor

Welcome to boom-town: Melbourne's low-rise high-density projects in one long list

The Urban.com.au <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/developments">project database</a> has passed a milestone 800 listings, with the expectation that 1,000 listings will be reached by year's end. The ever expanding project database has gathered approximately 40 new listings in the last fortnight, with a raft of new (and mostly residential) planning applications collected in recent weeks.

Having always been particularly strong in capturing large projects delivered by notable developers, the focus now has shifted to enriching the project database with upcoming projects which are being championed by smaller developers and those new to the Melbourne development scene.

To that end, the following projects represent a selection of listings which are new to the Urban.com.au project database.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image30_3.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Ascot Theatre followed by Leigh, 314-328 Swan, Prism and 3-9 Shuter"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" height="319" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image30_3.jpg?itok=cuAeUCLk" title="Ascot Theatre followed by Leigh, 314-328 Swan, Prism and 3-9 Shuter" width="580" /></a>

<figcaption>Ascot Theatre followed by Leigh, 314-328 Swan, Prism and 3-9 Shuter</figcaption>
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CDG Group enter the project database for the first time with two projects. With their initial project dubbed <a href="/new-apartments/summerhill-camberwell-1150-toorak-road-camberwell">Summerhill Camberwell</a> at sales, CDG's latest project is freshly lodged with Moonee Valley City Council. Designed by Jackson Clement Borrows, <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/9-shuter-street-moonee-ponds">3-9 Shuter Street Moonee Ponds</a> would see 67 apartments built over an eight level building. CDG also have a pending apartment project located on Hawthorn's Glenferrie Road.

Following the sell out success of recent projects MIYA and HAUS, Angelo Property Group have moved to shore up their future development pipeline with two new apartment projects. Lodged within days of one another, Ascot Theatre at <a href="/developments/ascot-vale-vic-3032">199-203 Union Road Ascot Vale</a> and Prism at <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/mac-robertson-lofts-365-smith-street-fitzroy">365 Smith Street Fitzroy</a> have the potential to yield a combined 100 dwellings in addition to a new Woolworths within the Ascot Vale redevelopment.

Last of the developers with multiple entires is Steller, which is seemingly going from strength to strength. In addition to a handful of current projects at registrations and sales such as <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/leigh-22-bent-street-bentleigh">Leigh</a> located within Bentleigh, Steller have embarked upon projects in both Armadale and Richmond. At planning, <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/acacia-74-wattletree-road-armadale">74-76 Wattletree Road Armadale</a> is modest at 29 dwellings relative to their largest development to date, namely <a href="/new-apartments/314-320-swan-street-richmond">314-328 Swan Street Richmond</a>.

Designed by architecture firm Ewert Leaf, the planning application sees 42 apartments and 75 serviced apartments over two 10 level buildings with retail and conference facilities located at ground level.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image33_0.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="140 King, New Charsfield, The Lincoln, 308 Carlisle and 386-394 Spencer"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" height="494" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image33_0.jpg?itok=JD3jQdPS" title="140 King, New Charsfield, The Lincoln, 308 Carlisle and 386-394 Spencer" width="580" /></a>

<figcaption>140 King, New Charsfield, The Lincoln, 308 Carlisle and 386-394 Spencer</figcaption>
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Other developers have also been busy with notable projects mushrooming around the inner city. As <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/besgate-group-readies-their-surge-into-the-melbourne-apartment-market">foreshadowed by Urban.com.au</a> recently, Besgate Group has pushed into the local development sector with <a href="/new-apartments/melbourne-vic">140 King Street Melbourne</a>. The 186 metre ROTHELOWMAN proposal is expected to see 271 apartments above two retail tenancies.

Chinese-Australian firm Ever Bright Group is readying to re-enter the apartment sector with a tower behind The Hotel Charsfield. Located at 478 St Kilda Road Melbourne, <a href="/new-apartments/new-charsfield-478-st-kilda-road-melbourne">New Charsfield</a> will see an 18 level tower with 69 serviced apartments in addition to private dwellings.

Brisbane-based Metro Property Group are poised to launch their sales campaign for <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/the-lincoln-15-cromwell-road-south-yarra">The Lincoln</a> within South Yarra after having received planning approval earlier in the year, while local developer Danny Ciarma under his UrbanDC brand is behind a proposal at <a href="/buildings/no-308-308-carlisle-street-balaclava">308 Carlisle Street Balaclava</a>. With 46 dwellings over four levels, the proposal would also contain two retail tenancies and two restaurants at ground level, covering a combined 700sqm.

Lastly Alpha 14 are seeking approval for an 18 level proposal at <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/buildings/bond-quarter-386-spencer-street-west-melbourne">386-394 Spencer Street West Melbourne</a>. 54 one bedroom and 72 two bedroom apartments constitute the proposal which would also see a mostly retained existing street frontage, with dual office tenancies slated for those spaces.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/image37_1.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="103-105 High Street, 67 Rufus Street, 719 High Street, 5-7 Nepean and Lincoln Square South"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" height="321" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/image37_1.jpg?itok=eW9oQdzd" title="103-105 High Street, 67 Rufus Street, 719 High Street, 5-7 Nepean and Lincoln Square South" width="580" /></a>

<figcaption>103-105 High Street, 67 Rufus Street, 719 High Street, 5-7 Nepean and Lincoln Square South</figcaption>
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The balance of those projects in the spotlight are more obscure in nature, either by location or by virtue of being championed by lesser known development entities.

With an estimated development value of $12 million, <a href="/buildings/marque-105-high-street-prahran">103-105 High Street Prahran</a> is a planning application seeking 63 apartments within a nine level building. While 103 High Street Prahran Pty Ltd is shown as the applicant, Healey &amp; Co is believed to be the developer with 103-105 High Street set to follow after their current project The Carlson, within Melbourne's CBD and which is nearing completion.

Two already approved and sizeable projects have surfaced in Epping, with 67 Rufus Street and <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/empire-epping-719-high-street-epping">719 High Street</a> both holding in excess of 90 dwellings. The former development site is for sale with planning approvals in tow.

Elsternwick continues to gain momentum as an apartment hot spot with Vantage Point Projects seeking approval for 53 apartments over five levels. Adjoining the McDonalds outlet on the corner of Nepean Highway and Glen Huntly Road, <a href="/new-apartments/elk-apartments-5-nepean-highway-elsternwick">5-7 Nepean Highway Elsternwick</a> sits on a 1585sqm site.

Last but not least is 23-31 Lincoln Square South Carlton. Plus Architecture have conceived a banded exterior for the 18 level proposal which would contain 124 studio, one, and two bedroom apartments if and when approved. Lodged during May on behalf of Ambertree Vic Mel (Lincoln) Pty Ltd, the proposal looks to replace the home of call centre specialist Salesforce, albeit within a retained building shell.

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Calcutta is here... in Bentleigh!

Welcome to boom-town: Melbourne's low-rise high-density projects in one long list

New projects in focus as the Project Database passes 800 listings

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