{"id":729652,"date":"2026-06-11T12:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/729652\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:52:14","slug":"former-vicroads-site-in-kew-state-government-confirms-demolition-instead-of-retrofitting-for-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/729652\/","title":{"rendered":"Former VicRoads site in Kew: State government confirms demolition instead of retrofitting for housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The former VicRoads site in Kew will not be retrofitted for housing, after the state government made a last-minute pivot and decided to completely demolish the former municipal building.<\/p>\n

The future of the 2.5-hectare block on Denmark Street has been a source of debate for over a decade. It has long been sought after by developers due to its size, transport connections and location in an affluent suburb.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer housing minister Harriet Shing outside the old VicRoads site in 2025.Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a government spokesperson said in a statement that the decision to demolish the building and develop a new precinct would offer the best housing outcomes for the community.<\/p>\n

Demolition of the seven-storey structure will commence this week and is expected to be completed by mid-July. The government has previously said that a total of 500 homes were expected to be built across the site, with 125 within the retrofitted building.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing extensive work with industry, the southern building on the old VicRoads site will be demolished,\u201d the government spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will deliver more homes than originally planned while creating high-quality open space and better connections through the precinct.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The spokesperson was unable to provide details on how many houses would be built on the site, or about how tall a new development would be.<\/p>\n

Last year, Development Victoria was investigating<\/a> whether the building could be refurbished to accommodate 125 homes, as part of a program that would encourage developers to retrofit old buildings for residential use.<\/p>\n

The state government has previously flagged its intention to sell the land to developers that would be required to allocate at least 10 per cent of dwellings as affordable homes<\/a>. The loosely defined term intends to provide housing for people on low to moderate incomes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But there have also been calls, including from Kooyong MP Monique Ryan, to turn the site into a more significant allotment of social and affordable housing.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TheThe former VicRoads building was opened in 1961. Paul Jeffers<\/p>\n

Additionally, Boroondara Council has long been pushing to gain ownership of the \u201ctail\u201d section of the site<\/a>, a thin section of land that it would like to develop into green space and a bike path.<\/p>\n

Boroondara Mayor Wes Gault said that the council had submitted a proposal to the planning minister to buy the \u201ctail\u201d land.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe former VicRoads site in Kew is an exceptional location for a new residential development, and we look forward to seeing its redevelopment in the coming years,\u201d Gault said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Peter<\/a><\/p>\n

Refurbishing the original building, which opened in 1961, would have been a major project. When The Age toured the site in early-2025<\/a>, there were visible signs of age and questions as to how the structure would be brought up to date with modern building regulations.<\/p>\n

Demolition works were recently completed on a second building at the north of the site, which was always expected to be removed.<\/p>\n

Nearby residents can expect increased noise, dust and vibration \u2013 as well as increased truck movements \u2013 across the duration of the works.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"GemmaGemma Grant<\/a> is a city reporter at The Age. Contact her securely on Signal at gemmagrant.88Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-729652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}