By Najma Sambul
In the heart of Footscray, shoppers pass an empty building that has sat disused and derelict for more than a decade. The former Forges site on Albert Street is boarded up, vandalised and falling apart.
Flanked by other rundown sites, it’s not alone. Nearby, the block that was home to the Little Saigon Market – which burned down in 2016 – sits empty and fenced off.
Warren Penna outside the former Forges site in Footscray, where land banking is increasingly becoming an issue.Credit: Chris Hopkins
It has prompted accusations of “land banking” – the practice of buying land as an investment and holding onto it for future use.
Long-term resident Warren Penna is among those who are fed up. He wants the local council to clamp down on property owners who fail to develop significant land holdings.
“Footscray has always had its issues, but these empty sites are just too much now,” said Penna, who described the state of Footscray’s CBD as “horrible”.
The one-hectare Forges site is owned by property developers Banco Group and has been empty since 2009, when its days as a popular discount department store came to an end.
Forges in its glory days.Credit: Jason South
When The Age visited the building recently, there was exposed wiring coming from one section of the roof and water leaking onto the pavement.
The Banco Group denies it is land banking. It said it had put forward several plans for the site in the past and had now settled on apartments and retail space, similar to what it developed across the road at Footscray Plaza.
“The Banco Group has a rich legacy of enhancing communities in Victoria through precinct development,” said the group’s director, Mario Lo Giudice.
“Our core focus lies in actively developing the site ourselves, fostering multiple lease arrangements for various components of the project.”
Lo Giudice said developers across Victoria were facing challenges beyond planning procedures.
“One notable hurdle involves collaborating with service providers like energy retailers,” he said.
“In certain instances, the progress of precinct development is hindered as these providers struggle to promptly and cost-effectively establish the necessary energy infrastructure.”
The owner of the old Little Saigon Market site, Sparkling Waters Pty Ltd in Springvale, was contacted for comment about its plans for the land.
Local member for Footscray Katie Hall, who began an anti-land banking campaign last year, has previously called it a “scourge” and said developers needed to take responsibility for their vacant sites.
Labor member for Footscray Katie Hall said land banking was a “scourge” in her seat.Credit: Paul Jeffers
The Labor MP sped up the demolition of an unused hardware store on Geelong Street and helped to get the owners of Little Saigon to clean up the rubble of the burned-out building.
“It’s completely disrespectful to the community and for local businesses when developers leave their sites in a mess,” Hall told The Age.
“In a housing crisis, we need to know that developers have an intent to build and that it isn’t a speculative process to sell or flip a permit when the market changes.”
The Maribyrnong City Council said many of these commercial sites in Footscray had been vacant for years.
Mayor Cuc Lam said hiking rates on vacant sites had been used as a deterrent for the past three years. Vacant site owners are forced to pay 200 per cent of the residential rate, and 300 per cent if the property is commercial or industrial.
Lam said the council had refused the Banco Group’s request for an additional extension of the permit for the former Forges site in December.
The dispute landed in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The council negotiated to give an amended permit to the Banco Group, but required it to demolish the existing building by next year.
Fire crews at Little Saigon Market the day after it burnt down in December 2016.Credit: Jason South
Property developer David Scalzo, head of Perri Projects, is restoring a heritage wool store for commercial use in West Footscray.
He said there were myriad reasons why landowners were not developing sites, but more needed to be done to address the issue.
“Some of these properties may not be held with people who are active developers, but costs of holding land and not doing anything with it are pretty significant,” Scalzo said.
Penna, who spent more than a decade living next door to a vacant car yard on Buckley Street, said land banking had been a factor in his decision to move homes.
“[Land banking] was one of these things doing our head in,” Penna said.
“A lot of people need to take responsibility of Footscray’s CBD. I’m not blaming council, but they do have a part to play.”
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