The ‘second city’ that disappeared: Dandenong is at a crossroads

When Steve Khan set up his shop selling Indian groceries and renting Bollywood films in 1994, it was a gamble: central Dandenong was considered a “no-go zone” by many. Drug use and criminal activity were rife in the area near his business.

“People would avoid coming to Dandenong because it had such a bad reputation,” Khan recalls.

But his investment paid off. More Indian businesses joined Khan, who is now vice president of the Little India Traders Association, and Mason and Foster streets transformed into a vibrant precinct where colourful shopfronts adorned with floral garlands show off rose-infused sweets and glittering saris.

Now these traders fear that a new $600 million development may kill off what they’ve created.

Like many in Dandenong, they have been waiting to see the fruits of a promise made in 2006 by then Labor premier Steve Bracks: that a major rejuvenation of central Dandenong would cement it as Melbourne’s second city.

November 2006: Then premier Steve Bracks and wife Terri enjoy coffee at Dandenong Markets.Credit: Craig Abraham

The state government’s Revitalising Central Dandenong project is still well short of its original goal to create 5000 jobs, 4000 homes (since revised up to 40,000) and more than $1 billion in private investment within 15 to 20 years.

Instead, the City of Greater Dandenong estimates there have been fewer than 2000 new jobs, under 1000 new homes and about $700 million in private investment.

A private developer, Capital Alliance, has now been granted the rights to take charge of the revitalisation with its $600 million proposal.

What has prevented Dandenong from becoming a bustling city in the south-east? And does the new development offer more disappointment or, at last, new hope?

A flying start, then a fizzer

In 2006, Revitalising Central Dandenong began with gusto. The Bracks government announced $290 million in funding and a suite of projects kicked off, including revamping the commercial hub of Lonsdale Street and building Stockmans Bridge for better access.

“[The project] will cement Dandenong as Melbourne’s second-biggest city, it will cement it as one of the most liveable areas of Melbourne, it will cement it as a commercial hub, as an industrial hub, as a place you can work, live and invest,” Bracks declared.

Over the years, old buildings for the Government Services Office and Australian Tax Office were updated, and Greater Dandenong Council funnelled more than $100 million to the project by delivering a new municipal building and upgrading the Dandenong Market and Drum Theatre.

But residents and business owners say that after the initial excitement, momentum was lost.

Today, central Dandenong twists between a hodge-podge of new, modern buildings and abandoned or neglected sites.

The modern Government Services building, completed in 2011 on Thomas Street, sits near a dated parking lot.Credit: Penny Stephens

Greater Dandenong Council chief executive John Bennie, who has been in the role since the heady days of 2006, says the government’s project “got off to a flying start then hit a hole”.

“So there’s been some anxiety and dissatisfaction along the way,” says Bennie, partly blaming the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 for dissuading private development.

In 2019, researchers from the University of Melbourne and Australian National University concluded that despite significant early investment, the Victorian government’s support for the revitalisation had fallen away over time.

They suggested that changes in administration in 2010 and again in 2014 played a role, and the fact that Dandenong has been a safe Labor seat for more than 50 years.

“After 2010, there was a significant shift in the priorities and the team [at VicUrban, now Development Victoria] reduced from over 20 to one,” says co-author Dr Hayley Henderson.

She says the local council made “extraordinary” efforts to continue the revamp.

City of Greater Dandenong chief executive John Bennie and Mayor Jim Memeti stand in front of the municipal building, completed in 2014.Credit: Penny Stephens

Greater Dandenong Mayor Jim Memeti, first elected to council in 2005, is most disparaging of the Infrastructure Recovery Charge which the Victorian government had in place from 2006 until last year.

Memeti says this deterred developers because they faced a 5 per cent levy when building in the central Dandenong area.

“It was a really big problem over many years,” Memeti says.

Matthew Kirwan, a former councillor and now Victorian Greens candidate for Dandenong, says there remains a “litany of broken dreams” in Dandenong.

“[The project’s] initial three years may have been flawed but they were still visionary and had positive outcomes. The last 13 years have been a story of neglect,” he says.

A sceptical community

In 2020, Development Victoria selected developer Capital Alliance to continue the revitalisation project by delivering a $600 million renewal of a two-hectare slice of central Dandenong which encompasses Little India.

The company’s master plan involves delivering a new mixed-use community hub by 2041 over seven stages, bringing in big businesses, a co-working space, retail and food, and at least 470 apartments. The developer also has a wish-list of features including a five-star hotel, brewery and private hospital.

But residents and business owners are sceptical and frustrated by a lack of community consultation.

Liberal and Labor parties may be vying for the attention of Indian-Australian voters in hotly contested areas like Melton during the state election, but in Dandenong, there are fears for the future of Victoria’s Little India.

Little India traders stand in front of the shops that are set to be demolished first.Credit: Penny Stephens

Traders worry that the staggered approach to the project – which would mean businesses relocating incrementally to temporary spaces elsewhere and a prolonged period of construction – would destroy what they’ve built over 30 years.

“We have spent our sweat and blood here … [but] the fibre of Little India would be broken,” says Khan, who today owns a hairdresser, cafe and grocery store.

“There are issues we’ve been trying to raise but we still have not been able to find the answers.

“We’re irritated with the way things are being handled.”

Fellow trader Manmeet Kaur says the businesses work like a family and they lean on each other to maintain customers.

“We are always telling [Development Victoria and Capital Alliance] we need a place where we can all go together,” she says.

Little India traders Mohuya Gupta (left) and Manmeet Kaur have been trying to get answers.Credit: Penny Stephens

Development Victoria is responsible for establishing a transition plan for Little India traders but would not comment on what it would involve.

Capital Alliance is aiming to accelerate the build of Little India for completion by 2026 instead of 2029. The traders have been warned that their rents will increase, leaving Kaur to question whether she can afford to keep her dress shop open.

Tina Congues, a long-term resident and member of the Dandenong Community Association, slammed the development’s community consultation sessions in March and October.

She says they muffled discussion by having experts stationed in different parts of the room to field individual questions, instead of having a single stage and audience in the style of council planning meetings.

Congues says she felt left in the dark after asking about disruption during construction, green space and the possible hospital.

“There were more bureaucrats than residents and it made me feel they’re not listening, they weren’t answering my questions,” she says.

Tina Congues, of the Dandenong Community Association, has concerns about the Capital Alliance development.Credit: Penny Stephens

The October sessions were also held days before Diwali festivities began, meaning some Little India traders couldn’t attend.

Congues says she isn’t opposed to development: “I’d really like it to work but I’m unsure of what they’re going to do. I’m scared it will become a white elephant, that all these buildings will sit there and become empty shells and no one will be able to afford the rent.”

Like many locals, Congues’ concerns come from years of copping “lots of promises with not much delivery”. “We’ve been left behind. The Little India and Afghan Bazaar traders – and council – have made Dandenong bustling, not the state government.”

Memeti emphasises the council is impressed with Capital Alliance’s master plan but says that safeguarding Little India throughout construction is crucial and suggests consultation could run at a pace that better informs and involves the community.

Kirwan is scathing: “It continues a tradition of a project that is imposed on the Dandenong community rather than one that is undertaken with the Dandenong community.”

Capital Alliance chief executive Mohan Du says more details will be provided once the master plan is approved by the planning minister.

There will then be detailed planning permit applications for each stage of the project, with construction expected to begin by the end of 2023 and a community liaison office set up.

Du says the consultation is naturally run differently: “This is not a government project, it’s a private project with the support of the government. It’s entirely private capital.

“We’re trying to satisfy as many people as possible.”

Mohan Du, CEO and founder of Capital Alliance, has developments in Southbank and Docklands.Credit: Eamon Gallagher

Du has big ambitions for Dandenong. He believes it should have taken off like Sydney’s Parramatta and his goal is to attract international retailers to set up shop and large CBD businesses to have satellite offices.

“We don’t have a ‘second city’ in metropolitan Melbourne and the vision is for us to make that city in Dandenong,” he says. “Putting in things like a five-star hotel … and having a grand vision will attract people to come.”

The Andrews government and Development Victoria both declined to respond to most of The Age’s questions about Revitalising Central Dandenong and the latest project.

“We will work closely with Capital Alliance throughout the next phase of the project to see it come to life, including close consultation with the community,” says the department’s acting group head of precincts, Niall Cunningham.

A government spokeswoman adds: “This project has seen hundreds of millions of dollars invested in central Dandenong.”

A render showing what the Capital Alliance development in Dandenong would look like upon completion in 2041. Little India will be in the laneway running between two new buildings.

As a municipality, Dandenong is unique: it’s home to about 160 nationalities and 200 languages.

This is also why residents hope the Capital Alliance development will be sensitive to the distinct needs of the large migrant community. Khan worries that new apartments will sit vacant.

“Migrants don’t usually want to live in an apartment, they want to live in an independent house,” Khan says.

Research fellow Henderson warns that it’s unusual to have a single developer responsible for an entire phase of a revitalisation project: “You might lose character and that’s important in a place like Dandenong that’s highly culturally diverse. It’s about ensuring development responds to a community’s needs and doesn’t push them out.”

Renewed hope?

Memeti is optimistic that the Capital Alliance development marks a turning point.

He says there are other positive signs since the government scrapped its levy on developers, including the purchase of Dandenong Plaza for renewal, and an apartment building finally going ahead on a Scott Street block that has been bare for more than a decade.

“It’s ripe and ready,” he says. “Once we start to see a few more cranes going up, there’s real potential.”

A block at 27 Scott Street is being developed into an apartment building after sitting idle for many years.Credit: Penny Stephens

However, it’s unlikely that Bracks’ desire to turn Dandenong into Melbourne’s “second city” will eventuate.

Census data shows that the municipality of Greater Dandenong is the fourth-largest employment hub in Victoria, after Melbourne, Greater Geelong and Monash, and it’s 16th for residents.

Plan Melbourne, the 2017 blueprint guiding Melbourne’s expansion, did not identify Dandenong as a potential second city, but instead named it as one of seven areas to focus on as key employment and innovation centres.

John Stanley, who sits on Plan Melbourne’s ministerial advisory committee, says slowing growth in the outer suburbs while encouraging denser populations in middle suburbs like Dandenong should be a top priority.

The University of Sydney adjunct professor says that for central Dandenong to thrive, it’s essential to increase its knowledge-based activities – for example with a university, medical institutions and more white-collar businesses.

Council chief executive Bennie is calling for more emphasis on decentralisation instead of successive upgrades to the Monash Freeway to ferry more cars into the CBD, particularly now that COVID-19 has shifted the way people work.

“If this area were supported in terms of white-collar job opportunities then we would avoid all those journeys,” he says.

“If there was a request that we would make of the government, it’s for a department to be relocated to Dandenong. The TAC’s gone to Geelong, who’s coming to Dandenong? It’s a catalyst for other things to follow.”

Colourful power poles and street art adorn Little India.Credit: Penny Stephens

Memeti isn’t fazed about stalling in the “second city” goal.

“We talk more now about being the capital of the south-east,” he says, describing the region that spans from the municipalities of Monash to Cardinia and is home to more than 1.5 million people.

“Once the project is completed, I believe that people in the south-east will have no need to go to the CBD.”

Many residents, like Khan, are less optimistic.

“It’s a case of I’ll believe it when I see it. Will I still be in this world when it happens? Who knows.”

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