Is Montague the Toorak of Fishermans Bend?

How are you all managing? Well I hope you are all socially distancing while you are getting out and about in Montague.

It has certainly been a very interesting time for all of us. The hard-working Fishermans Bend Development Board, met a few weeks ago and concluded that it was content that construction was continuing during the time of coronavirus in Montague with many new towers of all sizes about to begin.

The Board’s role is to sell Fishermans Bend and to ensure that developers are attracted to build those apartments, offices, shops and amenities to make Fishermans Bend an attractive place to live and work. And to remind you why … well according to those who decide these things, we need homes and offices for 80,000 residents and 80,000 workers.

And the received wisdom is that these towers/constructions need to have affordable homes as a percentage of the stock, to ensure a community-focused liveable area.

As Montague is the first of the precincts to be built up, it is interesting to identify how those properties being constructed are fitting into this philosophical description of a mixed- and community-focused area.

The photos that follow are demonstrations of what is currently being built. As a community group, we want to highlight that the entry level to the townhouses is $1.9 million and there is a single family (four people) home that is being built over five levels with a swimming pool and more than 1600 sqm in size. That clearly is not affordable!

We just want to ask the question: are we designing Montague to be a community, or to be a precinct for the wealthy – the inner-urban Toorak?

The Montague Community Alliance (MCA) has been told for more than seven years that, yes, there is a design and that purposeful decisions about diversity and community are being made about the precinct.

We have continually asked for more information but to no avail. We still don’t know. Therefore, our question for you all, dear readers, is: are we going to be a suburb for the wealthy, i.e. those that can afford to buy up a couple of terraces and build a “McMansion” or buy luxury townhouses?

Or are we planning a connected, engaged and street-level diverse community that works for all. You decide … •

Main image: Single family home, another two storeys to be built, Gladstone St.