FISHERMANS BEND YET TO REEL IN CASH

PERHAPS it's because of the bleak economic backdrop or rumblings by the local council that it does not support intense high-density development in the area but property owners waiting for a "bonanza" in land values following the historic rezoning of land in Fishermans Bend are disappointed. Three months after Planning Minister Matthew Guy permitted chunks of former industrial land in Port Melbourne and South Melbourne to make way for new villages - part of the much debated "Grand CBD" plan - developers and investors are yet to bite in any substantial way. According to one commercial agent who declined to be named, many developers are uncertain Mr Guy's Fishermans Bend plan will get out off the ground - the Baillieu government won the last state election by just one seat and the ALP has not endorsed the government's strategy. Agents covering the area scoffed at recent University of Melbourne assertions that land values trebled immediately after the rezoning. "Inevitably, values have increased since the rezone to Capital City 1, simply due to the far greater development potential of the affected properties," There have only been a handful of sales in the Fishermans Bend precinct since July, with sites in Gladstone and Rogers streets selling to owner-occupiers for similar to what they would have fetched earlier in the year. Coincidentally, the area's biggest site sale: the $25 million Symex site in Port Melbourne, sold to developer Harry Stamoulis before Mr Guy's announcement. Vinci Carbone director Joseph Carbone indicated local players in the industry were assessing carefully the development potential under this new zoning. He said overseas developers, particularly from Asia, targeted large, mass development opportunities, which the Port Melbourne area, with its new zoning, provided. Mr Carbone said most Fishermans Bend land owners were owner occupiers, investors or institutions (some of the largest including Goodman, AMP and Dexus). Fishermans Bend will spread over 240 hectares and, if completed, accommodate 50,000 residents in four mini-suburbs: Lorimer, Montague, Sandridge and Wirraway. The area is controlled by the Port Phillip council, which criticised the “policy on the run" plan it found out about via the media.