We see these projects as the next phase of Chadstone’s evolution as we work to respond to our community's changing expectations and lifestyle needs, and broader employment trends - in the same way our accommodation and conference facilities at Hotel Chadstone have responded to tourism and business needs.

The projects have a total investment cost circa $685 million.

No, the projects won’t increase the size of the precinct but rather refresh and repurpose existing space, utilising land within the current Chadstone footprint.

The development applications were subject to the usual approval process by the City of Stonnington and were officially approved on 6 July 2020.

The proposed projects will generate, on average, more than 650 full time-equivalent (FTE) direct and indirect jobs. At peak construction, these projects will generate more than 850 FTE jobs in total.

The proposed additional commercial office building is expected to generate more than 2,000 direct and indirect full-time jobs. And we anticipate creating more than 900 opportunities for hospitality, healthcare and key workers, not only supporting the economy but servicing our local community.

These proposals include a mix of refurbished and new areas, delivered in stages, to minimise customer disruption and centre impacts.

To minimise the impact to customers and retailers during construction, a series of staging plans have been developed and will continue to be reworked to minimise any disruptions.

The co-owners of Chadstone Shopping Centre received approval from Council for the new developments.

These proposals include:

• Priority expansion of car parks A, C and D, bringing an additional ~1,420 new car spaces across two of our parking precincts (these form two separate applications and provide the necessary parking for a number of new uses contemplated in the other applications)
• Expansion of the Leisure and Dining Precinct
• Upgraded Fresh Food Precinct, with a focus on workplace, wellness, childcare and lifestyle retailers
• Nine-storey commercial office building and new landmark entrance at Middle Road

There were a number of planning applications to facilitate the staged delivery of these developments which will be completed progressively over the next five years.

• Planning Permit 984/19 | Car park A expansion: Additional 853 car parks
  Vicinity have lodged materials for Council endorsement to facilitate works beginning on-site in February 2021. This development will the first of the six approvals to be constructed.
• Planning Permit 988/19 | Mezzanine Dining and Leisure Precinct: Additional dining and place of assembly uses such as mini-golf or bowling (+3,955sqm)
• Planning Permit 987/19 | Car parks C and D expansion: Additional 582 car parks
• Planning Permit 986/19 | Fresh Food, Wellness and Workplace redevelopment: Major upgrade of existing floorspace and creation of additional +16,563sqm of floorspace including: shop, food and drink, education, office, health and wellbeing and new childcare facility
• Planning Permit 985/19 | Middle Road Office development:
  Adding a nine-level office development (20,000sqm)

The Council website includes copies of all materials lodged in support of the applications including: architectural plans, landscape plans, planning reports, traffic reports, ESD reports. Please visit: www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/eplanning

The projects will be developed over a 4 to 5 year period, with work beginning in February 2021.

To ensure there is minimal disruption to the local community and the centre itself, car parking expansion has been prioritised, with the car park A expansion to be delivered first, before any retail development occurs. The expansion of car parks C and D will follow, to provide additional parking spaces to the centre.

Post the car parking expansions, the remaining projects will be completed, concluding with the health and wellness precinct in late 2024.

These applications will provide an additional 1,422 car parking spaces at Chadstone. This will create a surplus of over 700 spaces on the weekends when the Centre is at its busiest.

The issue of car parking on local streets – particularly on major event days such as Boxing Day – was raised with Vicinity during the engagement process. We welcome the feedback received and will continue to work with Council and the community on traffic and car parking issues affecting local residents, including options for additional measures that could be implemented on major event days.

In order to improve how the current car parks operate, a number of infrastructure works have been included in the planning permit applications. These include wider ramps and turning circles, the installation of speed ramps and a new signalised access point promoting easier access from Princes Hwy and directing traffic away from Chadstone Road. Additionally, the recently installed parking guidance system will be expanded upon to include on-site signage to clearly direct cars to the best parking location.

Chadstone is proposing to fund Chadstone Road intersection works, which would see the creation of a second right turn lane from Chadstone Road, into Princes Highway. This will provide a number of improvements to local area traffic, such as decreased queue lengths and travel times.

Fewer cars will head north on Chadstone Road, due to the improved efficiency of the Chadstone Road/ Princes Highway intersection.

Separate to the current applications Chadstone has been a strong advocate of alternative forms of travel. Last year, Chadstone funded a trial for a new weekend bus service that connects Oakleigh station to Chadstone, which was used by 30,000 passengers and greatly appreciated by the community.

Moving forward, Chadstone will continue to work with Council and Government to further improve Chadstone’s public transport and active travel connections, through a number of initiatives:

• Work with Stonnington Council to implement a number of priority pedestrian crossings and improve cycle and pedestrian connection to Scotchman’s Creek trail
• Work with State Government to trial additional bus services from Holmesglen station to Chadstone
• Work with Monash and Glen Eira Councils to improve cycle and pedestrian connection to Hughesdale station
• Additional weekend bus services from Oakleigh The November 2019 to Jan 2020 trial resulted in taking approximately 1,000 cars off the road each weekend

Chadstone is committed to working with Council and the community to protect local resident amenity throughout the entire construction period.

As part of the community engagement process, Chadstone has listened to the community to better understand their concerns about the planning permit applications and has created a mitigation strategy to solve these issues.

Detailed below are the some of the core concerns the local community has and the solutions Chadstone is proposing to solve these issues:

*Concern 1*: Construction vehicles driving down suburban streets

Potential Solution: Incorporate road use restrictions into the builders contracts to ensure suburban streets are not used during construction

Concern 2 & 3: Reduction of parking spaces during car park expansion projects and trade vehicles parking in prime customer locations

Potential Solutions:

• On Saturdays, during the car park A construction period, make parking off-site a contractual obligation for construction workers.

- Provide off-site parking for construction workers, with a free shuttle to the centre

• On Saturdays and Sundays run the “Chadstone Extra” train station shuttle services.

• The recent trial was used by more than 2,000 people, taking ~1,000 cars off the road each weekend

• Once the car park expansions are complete, provide workers with nested parking areas.