Repco, Officeworks, cafes: How Melbourne’s public towers almost had retail stores

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Ernst & Young suggested 1.5 per cent, or no more than 1000 square metres, of the gross floor area at the Collingwood estate could become retail. Another 2.5 per cent of the floor area — or 2000 square metres — could be commercial.

The document recommended that Atherton Gardens in Fitzroy could be home to up to 4000 square metres of retail, or 5 per cent of its gross floor area, plus another 1000 square metres for commercial. This would be focused around Gertrude and Brunswick streets.

Smaller spaces, such as cafes, were also recommended for the Kensington estate as well as the site on Lygon Street in Carlton. Smaller plots of retail and commercial was also listed for Langdon Park in Richmond, Horace Petty estate in South Yarra and on King Street in Prahran.

Retail or commercial spaces were not recommended for some of the estates, such as the Elgin and Nicholson street site in Carlton.

The firm calculated the possible value of the proposal.

“Due to the highly confidential and desktop nature of the estimates and the short timeframe to complete, we have been unable to undertake our usual valuation research,” Ernst & Young said regarding analysis for 130 Racecourse Road, Flemington.

Greens spokeswoman for public and affordable housing Samantha Ratnam moved the documents motion in the parliament last year, and on Thursday said all the remaining documents should be released. She said she still could see no justification for the demolition and rebuild of the estates and accused the government of prioritising private residential apartments over public housing.

“Based on the little that has been released, it appears Labor has decided to demolish and privatise Victoria’s 44 public housing towers based on some dot points on the back of an envelope,” Ratnam said.

The Victorian government was contacted for comment. It has always argued the towers failed minimum standards and needed to be rebuilt.

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The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office on Wednesday also separately tabled its report in to the big housing build, the government’s $5.3 billion plan to add 12,000 new social and affordable homes, and found the 2020 promise would be delayed by three years.

To stay on budget, fewer homes will be built on government land. More will be built and managed by community housing providers, and more affordable housing will be offered.

The watchdog said Victoria would need to build an extra 22,000 social homes by 2036 to maintain current levels, to match population growth.