Minister intervenes to greenlight a ‘wellness utopia’, new prison apartment towers

A 31-storey Docklands “wellness utopia” and apartment towers of up to 12 storeys at Coburg’s historic Pentridge Prison have been cleared for development by the state planning minister – dismissing objections from local councils.

The approvals by minister Sonya Kilkenny come while councils are in caretaker mode for local government elections, giving them little scope to protest on behalf of residents.

A render of Tim Gurner’s Elysium Fields development in Docklands.

The first stage of “Elysium Fields” – a $1.7 billion Docklands project by rich-list developer Tim Gurner – was approved on Thursday, setting in motion plans to build a 27,000-square-metre lifestyle precinct billed as a “futuristic wellness and anti-ageing utopia”.

The first three towers of the project, being jointly developed by Gurner and a consortium that includes the billionaire Liberman family, will range between 18 and 31 storeys and have about 700 apartments and two new public parks.

The facilities at 208-226 Harbour Esplanade will include a health club, bathhouse, cryotherapy, IV infusions, saunas and an anti-ageing health clinic. Works are expected to begin in the next month.

In August, City of Melbourne councillors unanimously voted to advise the state government, which would have the final say, that they did not support Gurner’s plans.

The council said the developer had abandoned elements of its original plan, approved in 2021, including that building heights would be a maximum of 83 metres. The towers will instead reach up to 98.65 metres.

Meanwhile, Brisbane-based developer Shayher Group had been locked in a lengthy battle with Merri-bek Council over its proposal to build 11- and 12-storey apartment towers at Pentridge, delivering 245 new homes.

Shayher Group has spent the past decade redeveloping Pentridge, which closed as a prison in 1997, including constructing a shopping mall, cinema, a 19-storey residential tower and 16-storey hotel.

In April, councillors unanimously decided to oppose Shayher’s latest planning application at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, arguing the proposed buildings overshot height limits set out in the masterplan and would make the development too bulky and create too much overshadowing.

Councillor Sue Bolton said at the time there were “no fantastic elements of this development that would justify the developer just trying to make big bucks out of going way over the height limit”.

A render of one of Shayher Group’s proposed new residential towers behind Pentridge’s bluestone walls.Credit: Shayher Group/ Merri-bek Council

The plans were called in by Kilkenny, with the Victorian government saying it intervened to put an end to the hold-up and ensure the project did not get stuck in VCAT.

“We’ve stepped in to ensure hundreds of homes are built at this great location in Coburg because we know homes don’t get built when they’re held up,” Kilkenny said.

“We’ll work with councils to make good decisions faster, but everyone needs to be working towards the same goal: more homes for Victorians – close to jobs, transport and services.”

Major reforms of the state’s planning system have been under way, with councils being told to significantly increase their dwelling approvals and the state preparing to take over planning controls in key precincts across Melbourne.

The state government will unveil its Plan For Victoria development road map in coming months.

A government spokeswoman said the focus was on fast-tracking well-planned developments in areas close to public transport, jobs and services.

Since the release of its housing statement in September last year, in which the government set a target of building 80,000 homes per year, Kilkenny has used her powers to approve 10,700 homes in 12 months – a more than 100 per cent increase on previous years.

“We’re not going to slow down, and over the coming weeks, we’re going to outline new key policy changes to build even more homes,” Kilkenny said.

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