Queen Victoria Market revamp to bring thousands of homes to Melbourne’s inner-city

A new precinct at Australia’s largest market will deliver build-to-rent, student accommodation and affordable housing in the heart of Melbourne. 

The federal government has given environmental approval for a new housing development in Melbourne’s inner-city heritage landmark Queen Victoria Market (QVM). 

Led by Lendlease in partnership with the City of Melbourne and student accommodation company Scape, the development – called Gurrowa Place – is expected to be a mixed-use precinct delivering over 2200 new homes at the southern edge of heritage-listed site.  

In 2023, the City of Melbourne endorsed Lendlease as the preferred development partner and consultation commenced to start on the design and use of the area.  

Given QVM’s national heritage-listed status, the project needed final environmental approval from the federal government to go ahead.  

The masterplan outlines two residential towers, a student accommodation tower and a low-rise civic building next to the market.  

The homes across the 3.2-hectare site will include 1150 student residences by Scape, 622 build-to-rent apartments and 79 affordable apartments.

As part of this latest approval, Lendlease proposed an amendment to the third building in the project’s masterplan in order to include an extra 507 BTR apartments and 55 affordable homes – bringing the total number of potential homes to 2413.  

The current marketplace carpark will also be turned into a 1.8-hectare park dubbed as Market Square. As part of this street-level transformation, the City of Melbourne, in collaboration with Lendlease, will restore Franklin Street stores to boost business for traders.  

According to the minister for environment and water, Murray Watt, the conditions attached to the development will preserve the heritage features of the QVM.  

“Through thoughtful design, this project will provide new and much-needed housing while ensuring this Melbourne icon can be enjoyed for many years to come,” Mr Watt said.   

“The market will continue to provide its famous fresh produce for Melbourne families and visitors, as it has done continuously since 1878. This project will offer modern facilities to make the market more accessible and appealing to traders, customers and tourists alike, without impacting the amount of parking on site.  

“And the development will provide significant heritage benefits for the Queen Vic Markets by restoring the historic Franklin Street Stores.” 

Minster for housing Clare O’Neill welcomed the project noting it “will make a real impact” for housing in the heart of Melbourne.  

“This is a fantastic announcement. We have too many regulations standing in the path of builders that is serving no purpose other than to delay and create more expensive housing. If we’re going to build more homes, which is exactly what our government is trying to do, then that’s going to have to change,” Ms O’Neill said.  

Lord mayor of Melbourne Nicholas Reece said the project is the largest mixed-use development in the council’s history.  

“Lendlease and the City of Melbourne can now confidently move forward with groundbreaking plans to transform the precinct – attracting thousands of new residents, workers and visitors, while boosting business for traders,” Mr Reece said.

“This development will also make a major dent in the housing crisis – delivering new homes, including affordable housing which the city desperately needs.” 

Now the project has final approval, site works are expected to start in 2026.  

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