State approves major Docklands build-to-rent tower near Marvel Stadium

The Victorian Government has approved a major new build-to-rent tower in Docklands, giving the green light to a 554-home rental project at 699 La Trobe St in another sign of the precinct’s growing role in Melbourne’s expanding BTR market.

Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny announced the approval on May 8 as part of a broader state government push to accelerate rental housing, with the Docklands project and a second BTR development in Fitzroy together delivering almost 800 new homes.

The Docklands scheme, to be delivered on the prominent corner of Harbour Esplanade and La Trobe St next to Marvel Stadium, will include a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and is intended to capitalise on the site’s close proximity to the CBD, public transport, jobs and services.

For Docklands, the approval is significant not only because of the scale of housing it will bring, but because it activates a long-vacant site at one of the precinct’s key gateway corners.

As previously reported by Docklands News, the proposal by Salta Properties was backed by the City of Melbourne last year, with councillors praising the overall quality of the Fender Katsalidis-designed scheme while also seeking tighter conditions around wind, overshadowing and ground-floor activation.

The approved tower was described at the time as helping fill a “missing tooth” in the Docklands streetscape, with the development team emphasising that it would avoid creating a continuous wall of built form along Harbour Esplanade and instead present a more refined skyline outcome.

The project also reflects a much broader trend. Docklands has increasingly become one of Melbourne’s strongest locations for build-to-rent, with several major BTR schemes now either approved, under way or recently completed, even as traditional build-to-sell apartment projects have slowed sharply.

When the Docklands tower came before the City of Melbourne in October 2025, Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell used the debate to warn that “the great Australian dream in Melbourne is dead”, pointing to the lack of for-sale apartment proposals coming through the system and the growing dominance of BTR and student housing in the inner city.

Still, the Salta proposal itself was strongly welcomed, particularly given the need for more rental supply.

The Docklands approval forms part of the Allan Government’s continuing effort to position Victoria as the national leader in build-to-rent. Under current policy, eligible BTR developments completed and operational between January 2022 and December 2031 receive a 50 per cent land tax concession for up to 30 years, along with a full exemption from the Absentee Owner Surcharge.

The government says those incentives, along with the use of the Development Facilitation Program to fast-track approvals, have helped Victoria become home to around two-thirds of the nation’s operational BTR projects, with more than 70 per cent of all BTR homes completed in Australia last year located in Victoria.

Minister Kilkenny said the latest approvals would help deliver more housing choice close to jobs, transport and services.

“Victoria is proudly the build-to-rent capital because we’ve backed this model from the start,” she said.

“We’ve approved hundreds more homes in the inner-city to give renters more choice to live close to the things that matter to them.”