The front page of today’s Moorabbin Leader features claims by the Gillon Group on the proposed Virginia Park development. Residents have been down this track before with the Caulfield Village. When Amendment C60 was first proposed it was stated:
The development will include:
- Retail premises consisting of a convenience-oriented neighbourhood shopping centre anchored by a supermarket with additional specialty shops and mini major stores as well as cafes, restaurants and a food court;
- Commercial office space
- Up to 1200 residential units
- Short term accommodation up to 100 beds (Quest style) (minutes of April 28th, 2011)
Please note:
Caulfield Village is currently set to have 2063 dwellings. 40% are single bedroom units. Retail originally cited as 35,000 square metres – now reduced to 12,500 square metres. By the time development plans are submitted for the remaining precincts these figures are sure to be varied. We see no reason to think that Virginia Estate will be any different. The motive is profit and if profit is derived from residential development, then so be it!
Glen Eira Debates 
July 8, 2015 at 2:29 PM
Naive fools can believe Gillon if they want to. You don’t ask for 4000 and then only erect 1200.
July 8, 2015 at 3:51 PM
just watch our Mr Magoo and Hero Hyams sing the praises of this East Boundary Rd development, and then in the sentence lament about the waiting lists of the sports clubs not being able to find places for all the children wanting one. Well, guys it all about proper planning. You’ve personally caused this over crowding with your past blind pro development logic. So where are these thousands of people with hundreds of children going to play sport?
This would make a good council report wouldn’t it?
July 8, 2015 at 4:32 PM
Anon says:
History has taught us to take what developers say with a grain of salt. Once the C126 amendment is passed Gillon/Abacus have 15 years to build as many shops, dwellings and offices as they can.. Look at the 23 town houses Gillon has already built on the edge of Virginia Park with one exit and entry point in Dromana Ave. What else has he got planned for the sites he has bought recently? Also their survey of retail outlets available to East Bentleigh residents didn’t include Chadstone yet the bus they refer to in their report goes up East Boundary road to Chadstone!
July 8, 2015 at 8:17 PM
No coincidence that largely the same groups have done the hired gun consulting for the Mrc Caulfield Village and Gillon.
July 8, 2015 at 8:35 PM
yes and the MRC are placing lots of asian customers living in their dog boxes next to their casino as Virginia will provide customers to GSAC!
July 9, 2015 at 7:57 PM
The MRC gambling facility does stand to gain a extra business once the Caulfield Village is occupied. Quite a lot. In fact the racing club tends to say wagering as the gambling gives a perception of risk. Puts some people off.
July 8, 2015 at 8:39 PM
Council in its “Explanatory Report” didn’t really explain why it wanted less jobs in the precinct and why it wanted so many dwellings without nearby employment and why it wanted development of the proposed scale so far away from fixed route transport. One lesson that residents have learnt is that C1Z is synonymous with “open slather”. It has no residential amenity standards, and VCAT doesn’t believe there should be any. If Gillon wants the development to be primarily residential, then the land around the C1Z core can and should be rezoned RGZ with an appropriate schedule. The squealing from Gillon would be deafening though.
July 8, 2015 at 10:26 PM
Rezoning to RGZ is too much. Gillon has got his ten storeys in the centre. That is enough. The rest should be NRZ with masses of setbacks and open space. For once there should be some quality development in Glen Eira and not boxes that disintegrate in 5 years.
July 9, 2015 at 3:19 PM
Rezoning to neighbourhood residential zone is the only solution. Two storeys alongside other two storeys makes sense. The way the amendment is written now they want to put up anything between 3 and 6 storeys along the boundaries without giving any clue about the exact height. The whole park is surrounded by neighbourhood residential and what happens should be in keeping with this. The dwellings in the centre can have their shopping needs met and the rest of the park can have more trees and open space given over. This amendment should not have even been put out for consultation it is so bad. Officers should have knocked it on the head right from the beginning. They haven’t and that is why I have major worries about what the recommendations will be and how courageous our councillors will be and whether for once in their lives listen to what the majority of residents want.
July 9, 2015 at 11:16 AM
we will be running out brown paper bags to handle this lot