The paper, Revitalising Victoria's Priority Precincts – Making planned growth deliverable, finds that despite more than $1.5 billion in investment in Footscray across health, transport, education, sporting and social infrastructure, the precinct continues to face stalled development opportunities, vacant sites and concerns around safety, activation and amenity.
It identified that high construction costs, elevated taxes and charges, expensive finance and subdued apartment values are preventing many otherwise desirable projects from proceeding.
Six actions have been identified to support the full development potential of Footscray and other key priority precincts, including reviewing taxes and levies applied on precinct sites, and unlocking catalyst sites on government-held land for early development.
Property Council Victorian Executive Director Cath Evans said Footscray demonstrated that major infrastructure investment alone could not deliver the housing and economic growth Victoria needs.
"Victoria has moved from a planning problem to a delivery problem," Ms Evans said.
"Footscray has many of the fundamentals you would want to see in a successful growth precinct - transport connectivity, major infrastructure, public investment and significant redevelopment opportunities.
"But investment in infrastructure is only the foundation. We need to make sure the conditions are right for the private sector to deliver the homes, jobs and economic activity that these investments are intended to support.
"The reality is that high construction costs, taxes and charges, expensive finance and subdued property values are making many projects unviable, even where the underlying demand is strong."
Ms Evans said the experience of Footscray should inform the Victorian Government's broader approach to activity centres and priority precincts.
"If we want activity centres across Victoria to accommodate more homes and jobs, we need to learn from what is happening in Footscray," she said.
"Planning reform and faster approvals are important, but they are not enough on their own.
"We need a coordinated approach that improves project feasibility, strengthens confidence in our precincts and uses public investment to unlock, rather than replace, private investment.
"Safety, activation, public realm and the overall confidence people have in a precinct directly influence whether people want to live, work, visit and invest there.
"Footscray has enormous potential, but we need to move beyond strategies and plans and focus on delivery.
"Getting Footscray right would not only unlock a major opportunity for Melbourne's west - it could provide a blueprint for how Victoria can turn its broader activity centre and precinct ambitions into reality," Ms Evans said.
The Revitalising Victoria's Priority Precincts Footscray case study has been created by the Property Council's Victorian Precincts Committee and can be found at www.propertycouncil.com.au.
