West Footscray was not always an attractive proposition for real estate investors or young professionals seeking inner-city living. For more than a century,Footscray was known as Stinkopolis for its foul industrial pong, the result ofchemical and munitions factories, sugar refineries, slaughterhouses, tanneries, woolstores and glue factories that lined the Maribyrnong River and dumped their waste into its waters. The industrial stench became part of the suburb's character, a badge of its working-class identity.
That industrial landscape is now vanishing.The traditional role and function of Footscray as an industrial and working-class area is changing; it is anticipated that the area will attract wealthier young professionals and students, and become less diverse in terms of income, ethnicity and age groups. Tech companies and digital businesses are moving in where factories once stood.The area is becoming home to ASX listed technology companies, drawn by proximity to the city, existing transport links, and affordable land relative to other inner suburbs.
The transformation accelerated in December 2016 whena fault in an electrical switchboard sparked a fire which gutted the Little Saigon Market, a cultural institution thatwas a symbol of the contributions made by Vietnamese migrants and multiculturalism, and a community hub that Vietnamese-Australian families connected with in Melbourne. That loss cleared significant land and removed a key anchor of Footscray's multicultural identity. Nine years later, the site remains largely undeveloped, contested ground in debates about the suburb's future.
The redevelopment pressure is relentless.Projections indicate an additional 13,800 dwellings from 2017 to 2041, primarily through the redevelopment of former industrial sites.The period 2017 to 2026 represents very significant growth with an annual rate of 9.6% between 2017 and 2021, falling to 6.1% to 2026. Government is backing this growth deliberately.Footscray is a designated Priority Precinct in recognition of its role as the gateway to the west, serving a growing population and providing new and diversified economic opportunities; Priority Precincts are state-significant areas aimed at creating more quality housing and jobs while building on Melbourne's legacy of distinctiveness, liveability and sustainability.
Yet this growth comes with genuine costs.Footscray's changing industry mix exists within a larger chain of gentrification and displacement.The vast majority of recent approvals have been for multi-storey mixed-use buildings with large numbers of apartments, generally smaller apartments with one to two bedrooms, many of which are sold off-plan to investors with the intention that they will provide a rental income. This development pattern raises property values but does not necessarily improve affordability for existing residents.
The suburb's multicultural fabric is under pressure.In a tacit attempt to dilute Footscray's shadier reputation, the suburb has been reimagined as the next St Kilda or Fitzroy; this has helped to raise unit prices and attract different types of residents and businesses.As industries died off, the original British immigrants moved out in search of greener pastures and new immigrants moved in; Footscray has always welcomed outsiders. But gentrification pressures threaten to displace the communities that most recently made their home there.
This is not a simple story of progress. Footscray's transformation shows what happens when rapid urban densification meets heritage and identity. The old industrial smells may have faded, but the loss of institutions like Little Saigon Market suggests that something valuable has been displaced in the push for growth. The suburb is becoming more connected, more prosperous, and more similar to every other gentrifying inner Melbourne postcode. Whether that is a fair trade remains contested.