An overview of the projects in the vicinity of the new North Melbourne (Arden) station

In the final iteration of this three-part series we look at providing a baseline overview of the project development pipeline within the vicinity of each of the three non-CBD stations on the Melbourne Metro project, and today it's North Melbourne - the new new North Melbourne.

Known as Arden until the naming competition results were announced, the new station (note: the existing North Melbourne station will be renamed to West Melbourne) will be the epicentre of a significant redevelopment zone.

Previously tenanted by Boral and Hy-tec concrete batching plants, the North Melbourne station site is state government-owned land which will also be a launch site for the tunnel boring machines.

Much of the land located directly east of the former Industrial site that will host a new station is zoned for mixed-use under the City of Melbourne's planning scheme and likewise, Design and Development Overlays that encourage higher-density uses but restrict heights on character and helicopter flight path grounds are in effect.

A good example of a development that is common in the area, is Charlotte at 241 Dryburgh Street - 5 levels, 40 odd apartments, approximately 15m in height.

The Arden Urban Renewal Precinct, as it is described by the Victorian Planning Authority, has had a draft vision and framework published and it envisions the area will be a base for 34,000 jobs and 15,000 residents.

Overall there are three precincts which are seeing long-term planning work carried out:

• Arden, bordered by Dryburgh Street, the Upfield rail corridor and Canning Street/Macaulay Road, it also contains Arden Central.
• Arden Central which is the location of the new station and will see the most significant redevelopment over time.
• Macaulay which includes land on either side of the Upfield rail corridor and Citylink north of Canning Street and is covered by the city of Melbourne's C190 planning scheme amendment.

The VPA, City of Melbourne and Melbourne Water are also exploring opportunities for water management, open space and land use around the Moonee Ponds creek.

The development pipeline as it stands includes 11 projects - all of them residential or mixed-use - with a combined 893 dwellings within 500m (as the crow flies) from the new North Melbourne station.  3 projects are under construction with 481 dwellings set to enter the market shortly and two other projects are actively being marketed with a relatively small 37 dwellings in total across both of them.

5 projects are approved that include 324 dwellings - at the time of writing, there were no projects at planning assessment.

See below for a full list of projects in the development pipeline located within the vicinity of the new 'new' North Melbourne (Arden) station.