Article: Jolimont rail yards are seen as Melbourne's worst eyesore

[ozbob]

From the Sunday Herald Sun click here!

Jolimont rail yards are seen as Melbourne's worst eyesore

Jolimont rail yards are seen as Melbourne's worst eyesore
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun

Christopher Anderson-Peters

August 09, 2009 12:00am

A PUSH for the Jolimont rail yards to be developed is gathering pace, with prominent Melburnians identifying the area as the city's worst eyesore.

The rail yards east of Federation Square should be developed into an arts, culture and trade hub of international significance, according to Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Wayne Kayler-Thomson.

Plans for a new precinct on decking over the yards - with apartments, retail, sporting and cultural facilities and parkland - have been mooted in recent years.

The cost of decking from Federation Square to the MCG was estimated in 2002 at $1.4 billion.

It would create an expanse of prime city real estate.

There has been growing pressure for authorities to act soon, with calls for decking over the yards all the way to Richmond station.

The calls come as two projects announced for the CBD recently will transform parts of the city centre.

They are Myer's $500 million CBD shopping centre redevelopment and a $260 million plan to build a 92m tower behind one of the city's grandest hotels, The Windsor.

One Melbourne Council plan, flagged in 2005, proposed an indigenous museum at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars on decking east of Federation Square.

Mr Kayler-Thomson described the rail yards as an "ugly area".

"It should be covered over with a new development that is an internationally focused hub for art and culture, sustainability, innovation and trade," he said.

"The appearance of the city is vitally important to international visitors and investors and overall business confidence.

"While current economic circumstances may not permit development, disused sites should be better shielded from public view."

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and his predecessor, John So, have campaigned for the yards to be developed.

A Sunday Herald Sun straw poll of prominent Melburnians also found Docklands - particularly the troubled Southern Star Observation Wheel - was unpopular.