Preston Market Heritage Changes Upset Plans

Developers Salta Properties and Medich Corporation’s plans to redevelop Melbourne’s Preston Market are up in the air after the state government said it would impose heritage controls on the site. 

The announcement comes after Amendment c182 was considered by an advisory committee who said there needed to be more work done to protect the historical, aesthetic, technical and social significance of the site.

Victorian planning minister Sonya Kilkenny said new planning controls, including a heritage overlay and a precinct-specific development plan overlay, would be introduced.

“We’re protecting the Preston Market and ensuring it remains a social and cultural landmark for the community—and preserving its history for future generations to enjoy,” Kilkenny said. 

“We have heard that preserving the market is a priority and that’s what we’ll deliver.”

The heritage overlay also ensures that a significant proportion of the existing market is retained.

Preston is 9km north-east of the Melbourne CBD.

Salta and Medich’s plans for the market include retaining the existing fruits and vegetable shed and relocating most of the market to a rectangular strip on Mary Lane, fronting Cramer Street.

The rest of the site was earmarked for 13 buildings initially between 12 to 20 storeys but was amended to four to 14 storeys high. 

That plan can no longer happen and means Salta and Medich will have to go back to the drawing board to show how the market will be protected under their plans. 

▲ A render of Salta and Medich’s previous plans for the Preston Market redevelopment.

Salta Properties managing director Sam Tarascio said it was important that the market be updated.

“The current market is more than 50 years old,” Tarascio said.

“The standing advisory committee’s report identifies a preference for the retention of most of the existing market buildings.

“This is a critical flaw in the recommendations of the standing advisory committee given Preston Market Developments has been clear throughout the process that the existing market buildings are no longer fit for purpose and unable to be repaired to the standard necessary for a modern market in terms of safety, hygiene, and operating efficiency.”

Tarascino also said that traders would be on month-to-month leases due to the uncertainty and that their customer numbers would be lower and rents would be higher if residential development was not allowed as set out in Salta and Medich’s original plans.

He said it would make it financially unviable for the market to continue operating if the committee's recommendations were followed.

“The market is not buildings. The market is traders,” Tarascio said.

“Without the traders, there is no market.”

A MCS-organised syndicate sold the market after owning it for 15 years in 2004 to Salta Properties and Medich Property Group for $36.75 million.

Their joint venture Preston Market Developments now owns and runs the markets.

Markets have been important in the suburbs of Melbourne with significance for the community, including multicultural and migrant communities. 

Preston Market was set up in the 1970s by two Polish migrant brothers and has always been privately owned.

It is near Preston Station and the Preston High Street major activity centre and is considered a strategic development site. 

The precinct covers more than 5 ha bordered by Murray Road to the north, Cramer Street to the south, the High Street shops to the east and St Georges Road to the west.

Darebin council opposed the developers’ plans for the site and were keen to retain the market as is in any plans for redevelopment. 

“We have advocated strongly against the demolition of the market and for the current footprint of the sheds to stay in place and it appears the government has heard this message,” Darebin mayor Julie Williams said.

“There are some positive signs that the market will be protected, however the minister will make the ultimate decision on whether the market will indeed remain in place for generations to come, in the coming months.”  

Kilkenny will introduce a planning scheme amendment to include an activity centre zone, a development contributions plan overlay, an environmental audit overlay and a parking overlay to implement the changes recommended by the committee. 

The planning controls review for the precinct began in 2017 when the Victorian Planning Authority was directed to do so by the then Planning Minister Richard Wynne.

He then asked the VPA to prepare a structure plan and planning scheme amendment to guide future development in 2018.  

This was completed in 2021 with the draft Preston Market Precinct Structure Plan which allowed for a 12,700sq m market to the east of the current location, retaining 20 per cent of the current structure, 1200 new homes, varying building heights and more than 3800sq m of public open space.

Draft Planning Scheme Amendment C182 to the Darebin Planning Scheme was also introduced but after 386 submissions were received the draft structure plan was amended.

In March 2022, the minister referred all the submissions and the plan and amendment to the VPA Projects Standing Advisory Committee.

It found that redevelopment was justified but not at the expense of demolishing the existing market and recommended retaining more of the market in any redevelopment.