Fremantle investment edging towards $1 billion, city thanks town planning amendments

Stephen TaylorDecember 7, 2020

Public and private investment for Fremantle is edging towards $1 billion - thanks to what the city believes are sensible amendments to its town plan.

This has pleased the Property Council of Australia, which says the revised scheme allows for greater density in key locations in the CBD and with developments currently in the pipeline. These include the flagship Kings Square project - more than 22,000 square metres of A-grade office space and more than 11,500 square metres of retail space expected to be built within five years.

Other uses are in the mix, including residential, hotel and short-term accommodation, entertainment and civic spaces.

The council said that, in recent years, there have been more development application approvals and building approvals in Fremantle than in any equivalent period since 1987.

Fremantle’s mayor, Dr Brad Pettitt, said the aim of revising the plan was to ‘’bring more people back into the heart of our city to live, work, shop and to be entertained”.

The city set about addressing the low levels of investor interest in Fremantle via an award-winning economic development strategy finalised in 2011. The strategy outlined ‘’ambitious but achievable’’ targets for the development of residential dwellings, as well as commercial office and retail floor space in the CBD.

Pettitt said that, while there was still a lot of work to do, there was now a good level of interest from investors and plenty of projects under construction.

“I’m more confident than ever that Fremantle is on the cusp of a generational change which will produce the sort of high-quality sustainable infrastructure that our community needs and deserves,” he said.

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