In Melbourne, there may not be a second Suburb, like Docklands, that makes people "love and hate". If you go there and ask 10 different Melbourne people, they may have 10 different interpretations and opinions about the land of Docklands. People who don`t like Docklands say it`s just a place where steel and cement are piled up and life is weak; and those who love Docklands say it`s a treasure of unlimited value for the future. So, what exactly is the real Docklands like? What kind of land is this adjacent to the world`s most livable city, CBD, with a total area of three square kilometers?
The history of the Docklands region can be dated from track back to Melbourne in the 1880s. Until then, the site of Docklands was just a barren wetland. In the 1880s, a project began on change, the channel of the Yarra River, which allowed the Yarra River to become wider and larger ships to enter Melbourne. This project not only directly promoted the development of Melbourne`s economic, but also gave birth to a new port, Victoria Dock., next to Melbourne`s CBD. (present site of Docklands)
(the birth of Docklands, thanks to the transformation of the Yarra River in the 1880s)
In the two wars of the change human development process in the 20th century, Docklands was the base of the Australian Navy, from which many warships went to or returned to the battlefield. By the 1920s, it was already the busiest port in Melbourne.
However, as the demand for large container transport in Australia`s economic became stronger after the war, the shallow port characteristics of Docklands did not support this as a hub for large container transport. Government has also begun building new ports in today`s West Melbourne area. Gradually, from the 1950s, the Docklands region began a long period of trough.
(Docklands in the 1920s)
Early recovery
In 1992, Jeff Kennett was elected Prime Minister of Australia. When he took office, he began a series of major projects, including the ambitious Docklands renaissance plan. The plan was unanimously favored by many developers and investors at the time, and it became what many see as a golden spot. At the time, the first residents who chose to move to Docklands from elsewhere were often the subject of news media coverage.
(1996 Docklands)
(2000 Docklands)
(2011 Docklands)
(2014 Docklands)
The following is the construction of a major landmark building, Etihad Stadium, in Docklands:
(December 1998, Etihad Stadium) under construction in Docklands
(today`s Etihad Stadium)
However, it was clear that people at the time were not sufficiently prepared for such a large-scale regional development. In 1996, government began a new round of development tenders for the Docklands region, and hopes to turn it into a landmark for Melbourne in the run-up to the Millennium. Soon, people realized that it was not realistic.
Because government lacked investment in infrastructure in Docklands`s planning and developers were reluctant to pay for investments such as road infrastructure, development in the region was slow for a while. The failure to keep up with infrastructure has led to a sharp rise in vacancy rates on a small scale, scaring off a large number of investors who had confidence in the neighborhood.
The wind of Docklands
For some residents of Melbourne, Docklands was the place of residence they didn`t want to consider, and some were even waiting to see the jokes of the area.
There are "springing up" apartments here, but the popularity has not been very full; there was no post office, no news kiosk, no shopping place; Due to the special geographical location of Docklands, the occasional strong wind here is also one of the necessary topics for many local residents to talk about the Docklands area.
But even as many people`s impressions here remain more than a decade ago, the change in Docklands has been quietly taking place.
A new look in the new century
In 2000, Victoria`s new governor, Steve Bracks, launched a new round of development for the Docklands region. According to the new plan, the Docklands area will be built by 2025, a sustainable new area capable of accommodating 20, 000 residents, creating 60, 000 jobs and receiving millions of visitors a year.
In addition, there will be more water sports, community space, art, entertainment, and direct access to Melbourne`s core residential complex. In fact, Victoria`s government plans to make the area no less famous as Sydney`s Love Harbor.
Within this year alone, the large infrastructure planning projects in the Docklands area have been dazzling:
150 million upgrade Shopping Mall Harbour Town
The Harbour Town Shopping Center, acquired by ING Real Estate in 2014, will host a Hoyts cinema with eight screens, as well as a standard Woolworth supermarket. The investment, which amounts to more than A $150 million, will be a huge convenience for people in the Docklands region.
Construction of the Hoyts cinema began in May and will open in mid-2018, while the new Woolworth supermarket will open in 2019. It is expected that the completion of the two projects will greatly "activate" the popularity of the Docklands area at night.
The first Marriott hotel in Australia in 20 years
Marriott, an internationally renowned luxury hotel chain, officially announced in August that it would build a new Marriott hotel with 200 hotel rooms in the Docklands area, the first new Marriott hotel in Australia in 20 years.
The new Marriott hotel, with a total investment of A $200m, will be designed by DKO Architecture, a leading Australian design firm, and will be part of a 17-story twin tower project, while the other will be a high-end apartment. The new Marriott hotel will create more than 500 construction jobs, as well as 100 permanent jobs after completion.
The project is expected to start construction in mid-2018.
Docklands Public Primary School Construction
In the eagerness of local residents, Victoria government finally announced the construction of the Docklands public primary school in 2017. The school will provide admission from pre-school to sixth grade and can accommodate about 475 students. It will absorb students from areas such as Docklands and CBD, West Melbourne. Government, Victoria, estimates that by around 2036, there will be more than 1500 students aged 5 to 14 in the Docklands area alone.
Docklands: from "unfit to live" to "hot"
In the past few months, media reports that Melbourne`s real estate vacancy rate has fallen, and apartment supply is in short supply, has become a hot topic, compared with the "over-supply" argument that has spread for several years. This time the news about the Melbourne apartment has changed so quickly and astonishingly.
Within the reach of Melbourne`s CBD, Docklands is naturally a beneficiary of the local tight apartment market. "at the moment, I have little room here to sell or rent," real estate agency Glenn Donnelly of CBD in Melbourne said in an interview with the media.
(the residents of Docklands enjoy riding here, and more Melbourne people are starting to call Docklands their home.)
In the view of Glenn Donnelly, who moved his home to Docklands nine years ago, people in the past were obviously not very friendly about this district of Docklands, thinking that there was a lack of it and that they were not willing to move here to live here. But now it has all the elements needed for a habitable area.
"for example, in the Yarra`s Edge area, developed by Mirvac, you will find that the vast majority of the population lives on their own, and Mirvac is doing a great job, building a lot of public areas here, and people are more and more interested in living here." Glenn reckons that about 80 percent of the apartments he sells with a zip code of 3008 are homebuyers.
(Yarra`s Edge area developed by Mirvac)
At present, the overall development of the Docklands region is only about 60% progress. When the entire Docklands has no more square meters of land available for development in 2025, it will accommodate up to 20, 000 people, compared with Melbourne`s current population growth of about 2200 a week.
In the process of developing a super-large integrated planning area like Docklands, only a small number of people will be the first to eat crabs, and they will be laid out as early as Glenn; More people will choose to wait until everything is seen as real-time to discover the value, and there will be a higher price to pay by that time.
"yesterday I love to ignore, tomorrow you can not afford," this may be a few years later when people talk about the history of the Docklands area, will often quote.
