Ever fancied becoming a housing developer? An $18 million Wantirna block could be your way in

A previous approval for 126 dwellings, granted by VCAT, has lapsed.

Author

Matthew Sims
December 19, 2025

More than 11 years after it was sold, a 2.4-acre Wantirna block sits empty and unloved, as agents continue to try and secure a new buyer. 

Fenced off to the public and surrounded by houses, retail and busy thoroughfares, the land - all 9,813 square metres of it - has been on and off the market since it sold in November 2014 for $6.79 million.

In late 2025, the listing agent Ivy Real Estate has put an indicative price guide of $18-19 million. The land has been on the market since March and is described as “price reduced”.

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📍 What makes up the land? The block is within a Commercial 1 zone, which allows for a wide range of uses such as retail, entertainment and residential.

  • The tract covers three separate parcels with street frontages totalling about 260 metres along Boronia Road and Thaxted Parade, with native and exotic trees and vegetation taking up a large part of the site.

  • Knox Council first received an application from Hansen Partnership Pty Ltd for development on the site in July 2015, including 128 dwellings (100 apartments within a five-storey building and 28 three-storey townhouses), a shop or cafe and the removal of 13 trees.

🚫 Rejected: Council’s planning committee refused the application in May 2016, arguing it would not provide an “appropriate balance between the need for additional housing within an established urban area, the amenity of occupants and adjoining residents, and planting of new canopy vegetation”.

  • The matter was taken to VCAT, which upheld the council’s decision in November 2016. However, it said it would approve amended plans if the height limit was dropped from five storeys to four.

VCAT approved amended plans for the development, including dropping the number of townhouses from 28 to 26.

✅ Un-rejected: VCAT approved amended plans in May 2017, and in early 2020 - at the start of Covid - the site was returned to the market, but later withdrawn. 

  • The VCAT permit has now expired, but Ivy Real Estate sales director Brendan Wang told the Eastern Melburnian a buyer could submit a similar development application.