I live in what’s been called Melbourne’s worst development. It’s a lesson in what not to do

I wasn’t aware that I was moving into what is known as one of the worst apartment complexes in Melbourne when I signed my rental lease last year, but by the time the dust settled on the contract I was starting to realise what I’d gotten myself into.

It turns out that settling dust is part of the problem when you live at Footscray’s Joseph Road precinct. I hadn’t clocked on my first viewing that roads in the complex were unpaved gravel. After I moved in, the clouds of fine grit became a daily cause of eye-squinting irritation.

Construction under way at the controversial Joseph Road precinct in September, long after residents had moved in. Credit: Joe Armao

As did the lack of trees, and the lack of onsite parking. Admittedly, parking is less of a must-have in many of Melbourne’s new developments, but the Joseph Road precinct is huge. It houses up to 8000 people in a dozen towers up to 30 storeys high, and the train station is a kilometre away. Many of the buildings, like mine, have one parking space per apartment, which sounds reasonable, but given that numerous residents share, or have visitors, there can be a substantial shortfall. The result is the constant stream of vehicles circling in the hunt for a park.

There are buses just outside the precinct on Hopkins St, if you don’t mind waiting while 18-wheelers and cement mixers barrel past along the main route between the western suburbs and Melbourne’s centre.

The absence of street lighting within the precinct, meanwhile, makes my walk home the most depressing – and dangerous – part of my day. It can get so dark that road signs are basically invisible, let alone pedestrians, but who needs fixed lighting when you have all those cars flashing around looking for a park?

The nearest supermarket is 1.4 kilometres away, and there is just a single corner shop within the entire complex, selling milk for exorbitant prices to the captive residents.

This massive urban renewal project is clearly a wasted opportunity. Just 5 kilometres from the CBD, living here should be incredible. Packed with restaurants that are the talk of the food world, Footscray is earning its stripes as the Fitzroy of the inner west. Or, at least, it would be if apartments here were built properly.

“For a long time Joseph Road was forgotten – some might say ignored – by Maribyrnong Council. It’s only because of residents agitating for basic facilities that the area is now slowly getting up to speed,” resident Darrell Pitt told me.

He wonders how so many residential buildings could have been erected with so little foresight. “We didn’t have functioning footpaths, roads, street signage, pedestrian crossings or streetlamps. How can a council forget to install a footpath?”

Pitt is an admin for the Joseph Road Precinct Action Group, a group that has pushed for safety improvements in the area. Their achievements include public rubbish bins, more usable footpaths, and street lighting to protect residents navigating the complex.

What was envisioned as a vibrant mixed-use area, Darrell suggests, has been thwarted by a lack of care from the outset. Recent months have seen the opening of one new business, a takeaway-only Italian restaurant, but this has done little to increase foot traffic.

As Darrell says, “Surely it’s common sense that commercial premises are more likely to be leased when the area looks appealing?”

Ultimately, the dusty streets and seemingly endless construction works are more than just an eyesore: they’re a danger.

On November 25, 2023, Frances Ramirez, 22, was struck and killed by two cars at the intersection of Hallenstein and Hopkins streets, an area of the precinct that has no traffic lights.

For Samantha Meredith, a local Greens councillor, the incident marked a renewed need for change – as well as a personal tragedy. “Frances lived on my floor, just across from me,” she says. “She was my neighbour.”

With support from the Precinct Action Group, community members were able to impose a 40km/h speed limit on a stretch of Hopkins St in 2024. Meredith laments that many drivers still treat this as a suggestion.

“The reputation of Joseph Road as the ‘worst apartment complex,’” she says, “stems from the lack of supporting infrastructure, such as pedestrian pathways and lighting, which has left its residents vulnerable to safety hazards.”

Have we learnt nothing from the windswept failure that is Docklands?

With the City of Melbourne pushing towards its goal of 134,000 new homes by 2051 as part of a statewide goal of 2.24 million, we know that apartment precincts are being planned at Arden, Fishermans Bend and Macaulay – and more can be expected. In November, the roads were finally paved in the Joseph Road precinct, years after residents moved in. But by building the housing first and basic infrastructure later it remains an example of how not to hit high-density housing quotas.

Another victory for residents has been the completion of Lilardia Park, a patch of grass nestled in the corner of an apartment tower and block of commercial offices that opened in September 2024. It provides much-needed greenery but remains a minor respite given the scale of the precinct.

High-rise living is the future for many Melburnians. What’s going to sabotage that progress is more slapdash developments like this one.

Liam Heitmann-Ryce-LeMercier is a freelance writer and reviewer based in Melbourne.

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