Box Hill Development

A Fresh, New Box Hill Central Experience

We are excited to announce that we have commenced works at Box Hill Central, revitalising your favourite local shopping centre and transforming it into a fresh and modern destination for lovers of mouth-watering dining, fresh food and specialty ingredients.

The revitalisation of the centre brings to life the first stages of our vision to create a high-quality and integrated world-class mixed-use precinct, transforming the heart of Box Hill.

Designed to meet the changing needs and tastes of the community, Box Hill Central’s south shopping precinct will be a key part of the precinct, with the current works covering more than 10,500-square metres of ground floor retail and car park lobby areas.

Box Hill Central Centre Manager, Natalie Kyall, said the redevelopment will significantly improve access and flow to the centre and transform Box Hill Central into a retail destination of the future.

“The redevelopment of Box Hill Central will elevate the centre and includes new facades, floors, ceilings, furniture and lighting providing a pleasant environment for our community to visit their favourite and new retailers,” said Ms Kyall.

“We’ve also analysed the way customers move around our centre and we’re reconfiguring the southern retail precinct to improve accessibility, including a new entrance way and the introduction of dual-frontage restaurants.”

Central to the design is the improvement of the precinct’s access and engagement with the surrounding street network, to be delivered through a new southern entry point from Carrington Road, expected to attract more than one million visitors a year, three new travelators and a new customer lift connecting all levels of the car park.

The South Precinct will also benefit from a reconfiguration of the mall to accommodate new kiosks and an extension to the main internal avenue to create three new permanent retail stores, further enhancing the retail offering and experience for customers.

Complementing the significant centre upgrades will be a suite of new major and speciality retailers, including a new Coles supermarket launching in mid-2022, and new dual-frontage restaurants facing out onto Carrington Road and into the precinct's internal centre avenue.

“Most of the works will take place outside of trading hours, and will be completed in stages, concluding with the launch of new restaurants in September 2022,” Ms Kyall said.

The First Steps to Refresh a Vibrant Box Hill Central Precinct

The refurbishment and redesign of the centre’s popular southern retail precinct is the first step in our delivery of a new vibrant Box Hill Central for the community to enjoy.

Supporting its leading retail offering will be the introduction of three levels of new commercial office space sitting above Box Hill Central South, complete with its own dedicated entrance onto Carrington Road.

Complementing the redevelopment of Box Hill Central South, plans for the northern precinct include a range of new mixed-use buildings which are proposed as residential and commercial office space, positioned above retail premises and flanked by a new public open space including a Spanish Steps-inspired public amphitheatre, providing more meeting places for the local community to enjoy.

WHAT'S COMING UP

DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

20 September 2021

New passenger lift installation (September 2021 – February 2022): Lift works are being undertaken to install a new passenger lift that will service all levels of the centre’s car park.
Travellator replacement (November 2021 – February 2022): This will see the replacement of existing aged travellator units near Merry Seasons.
Common mall ambience upgrades (October 2021 – June 2022): Works will be undertaken to lengthen and widen the existing customer mall and upgrade all finishes throughout the common mall areas from the Carrington Road entry to Merry Seasons.
External landscape upgrades (February – May 2022): This will include replacing and upgrading the pedestrian footpath along Carrington Road, from the existing ramp to the rooftop car park to the new entry which will be created on Carrington Road.
Creation of office space (late 2021 – late 2022): The construction of a three-level, 4,000-square-metre, commercial office space.

All provided timeframes are as known at the time of this update.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHY THIS VISION FOR BOX HILL?

With Box Hill already existing as a key business, residential and retail destination, our vision is to create a bustling new town square and a world class mixed-use precinct with new residential, commercial and retail developments.

Revitalising the heart of Box Hill’s CBD will bring more than new 6,000 workers and 3,800 residents working and living in Box Hill’s town centre by 2030.

WHAT APPROVAL IS REQUIRED?

The development applications are subject to the usual approval process by the Whitehorse City Council and the projects still require approval by Box Hill Central’s owners, Vicinity Centres.

WHAT ARE THE TOWN PLANNING APPLICATIONS FOR?

Our owners, Vicinity Centres, are seeking approval from Whitehorse City Council for the first three planned projects for Box Hill Central North. These include:

3,350 square metres of new public space featuring a town square, amphitheatre, extension of Main Street and extension of Prospect Street to link with Clisby Court and Whitehorse Road
A 25-level commercial office building next to Box Hill train station.
A new residential application for 366 apartments, office space and ground level retail trading onto a revitalised Main Street.

IF COUNCIL APPROVES THESE PROJECTS HOW LONG WILL CONSTRUCTION TAKE AND WHEN WILL IT START?

If the town planning applications are approved by Council, we anticipate the first stage of projects could be developed over a three-year period however, with the impacts and uncertainty regarding COVID-19, this may change.

Our Box Hill 10-year vision is a key proposal and staged development within our mixed-use pipeline, and the development applications lodged for the public space and commercial office building are part of the long-term planning process on this key asset.

HOW MANY JOBS WILL THE PROJECT CREATE?

Bringing our vision to life over the next decade will generate, 2,400 direct jobs during construction and, upon completion, there will be up to 6,000 new jobs in the Box Hill CBD.

HOW WILL THE PROPOSED PROJECTS IMPACT TRADE FOR RETAILERS?

We will have a staged and phased approach. If approved, the recently lodged development applications and the long-term masterplan will be delivered in stages, to minimise customer disruption and centre impacts.

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS FROM HERE?

Lodging our first three development applications is the first step in the long-term planning process.

These town planning applications are subject to the usual approval process by the Whitehorse City Council and the projects still require approval by Box Hill Central’s owners, Vicinity Centres.

ARE YOU ADDING ANY CAR PARKS?

Yes, both the commercial office and residential buildings will include car spaces for workers and residents. In addition, the new public open spaces and the extension of Main Street and Prospect Street will provide greater access through Box Hill’s town centre for pedestrians, cyclists and cars.