MCWA Plans Eight-Storey Essendon Apartment Scheme
Plans for a 35-apartment scheme heavy on three-bedroom apartments and sustainability specifications at Essendon’s North Activity Centre have been filed by the Macedonian Community Welfare Association.
Now before the Moonee Valley City Council, the application proposes an eight-storey building at 1040 Mount Alexander Road that would reach a maximum height of 26.9 metres.
The proposed building height is a touch under the 27m preferred maximum for the North Essendon Activity Centre’s Built Form Overlay.
The site is occupied by the double-storey Essendon Apartments accommodation building on the site about 11km north-west of the Melbourne CBD.
Melbourne-based M3 Design is the project architect and GrayKinnane is the planning consultant.
Nearly half the building’s apartments would be three-bedroom, with 16 of the 35 units in that configuration, 11 of two bedrooms and 8 one-bedroom apartments.
Apartment sizes range from 57sq m for a one-bedroom unit to 125sq m for a three-bedroom, according to the application. Accessible apartments would be provided on each level.
Floor plates vary through the building—four apartments on the ground floor, five on each of levels one through five and three on each of the top two levels.
Every apartment would have a private balcony or terrace, with outdoor areas ranging from 7.45sq m to almost 39sq m and storage specifications that exceed minimum requirements across apartment types.
Shared spaces would include north-facing gardens, terraces and lobbies.
The application targets an average NatHERS thermal performance rating of 7.3 stars across the building. A 30kW solar photovoltaic system would be installed on the roof. Internal lighting power density would be at least 20 per cent below requirements and minimum 5-star WELS-rated showerheads, tapware and 4-star WELS toilets would be fitted throughout.
Basement levels would provide 34 car parking spaces via a stacker system and 16 bicycle spaces.
Essendon is a favourite patch for Kincrest founder Tom Howgate, who reports 100 per cent owner-occupier sales at his Essendon projects, in an area he says has enough buyer depth for projects ranging from five to 50 apartments, so long as developers don’t “flood the market”.
Howgate, who picked up a second Essendon site for his Hollick Place project nearby at 1009-1013 Mount Alexander Road in September 2025 sees “strength in the Essendon market”.
“We have experienced a demand for significantly sized residences in North Essendon,” he said at the time. “It is a very parochial neighbourhood and what we have found is that people want to stay close to where they have lived a long time and often grown up.”
