Port Places: year in review 2025
First round the Bend, as Fishermans Bend used to be known in Port.
Fishermans Bend
Development activity is centred on the Montague and Wirraway precincts. Montague is frequently marketed as part of Southbank (rather than Fishermans Bend) and its convenience to public transport, the city and the all important South Melbourne Market promoted. Wirraway is more like an extension of Port Melbourne where several town house developments were completed this year.
Montague
Normanby Rd
Several apartment developments, put forward when Fishermans Bend was first re-zoned, are being built after being contested, scrutinised and finally resolved. Most of these developments are Build-to-Rent, with ever more dizzying amenity offerings: podcast rooms, wellness centres, in addition to the now standard co-working spaces.
Beginning from the Port end of Normanby Rd:
- R Evolution (253 Normanby Rd) is R Corporation’s second tower in the precinct, a 41 level development behind R Iconic with its distinctive profile, being built by Maxcon.
- The Local (245 Normanby Rd) 324 units over 40 levels by LIFE Architecture (formerly CHT Architects), built by Hamilton Marino. The Local’s marketing focuses on, yes, the local.
- Canopy (272 Normanby Rd) a 20 level development by Gamuda Land is due for completion in early 2026. The development also includes the transformation of Johnson St (between Normanby Rd & Munro St) into a plant rich public park.
- The Archive (203 – 205 Normanby Rd) 237 units over 35 levels by Hayball, built by Crema, a development by CDL.
Sandridge
Australia Post’s Port Melbourne Business Centre has moved to Plummer St while the Port Phillip Council progresses plans to create a sport and recreation precinct at 509 Williamstown Rd.
Wirraway
- Port Lane (187 – 201 Williamstown Rd) a development of 122 three level town houses is complete.
- the former Rootes car factory’s site covering the block Plummer x Salmon x Williamstown Rd x Smith St
- The former Rootes administration building and showroom fall into disrepair verging on dereliction in spite of having heritage protection.
Narrarang (meaning She Oak) Primary School at 2 Smith St is due to open for the start of Term 1, 2026. The school is being built in stages and is expected to be complete by the end of 2026. At completion it will have space for 650 students.
Access to the school is supported by walking and cycling improvements including pedestrian operated signals across Williamstown Rd, a raised pedestrian crossing at Smith St, a 40 kph speed limit on Smith St and left turn only from Smith St onto Williamstown Rd.
NEIC (National Employment and Innovation Cluster)
The former Herald and Weekly Times site next to Westgate Park at 127 Todd Rd. has been cleared in preparation for the construction of NEXTDC‘s massive data centre and digital campus, M4 Melbourne. M4 will feature an AI Factory, Mission Critical Operations Centre, and Technology Centre of Excellence.
The data centre is being positioned as the enabler for the Fishermans Bend innovation precinct.
AI moved from the margins to the centre of public interest, conversation and every day use with its implications for news media, national security, education and employment.
Concerns mounted through the year over the energy and water demand caused by the rapid growth of data centres.
The University of Melbourne has ‘paused’ work on its Fishermans Bend campus while insisting on its long term commitment.
Westgate Park will be managed by the City of Melbourne, rather than Parks Victoria, from 1 January 2026. The City of Melbourne will bring more resources to the Park as well as experience in managing urban parks and a commitment to biodiversity. A head gardener has been appointed.
The state government released an updated Integrated Transport Plan for Fishermans Bend in September.
The plan is structured around short, medium and longer term horizons.
The immediate, short term focus, is on achievable improvements that will make a difference including further improving bus services, connecting the precinct with Anzac Station, and walking and cycling improvements. In the medium term, trams, and in the longer term, heavy rail.
The Fishermans Bend Business Forum hosted a well attended event Delayed but not Derailed in October revealing the strong community interest in the Fishermans Bend project.
Port Phillip Council
Alex Makin, elected in the ward of Montague at the October 2024 council elections, was elected Mayor of Port Phillip in November 2025. Makin was formerly Mayor in Maroondah and has a strong track record of effective advocacy for active and public transport. He eschews the mayoral car in favour of the 606 bus which runs from Westgate Park to Elsternwick Station.
Community safety has been a focus for the Port Phillip council throughout the year since it was such a strong issue at the council elections.
The Crime Statistics Agency reported that criminal incidents (multiple offences that are recorded on a single date and location) in Port Phillip had risen by 23.1% compared to the previous year (to year ending March 2025).
A community safety round table was held in March, extensive consultation followed and a Community Safety Plan adopted on 12 December.
Just days after the plan was adopted, fifteen people were killed by gunmen while celebrating Chanukah at Bondi Beach.
Mayor Makin, with his counterpart at Glen Eira, Mayor Simone Zmood, promptly initiated a joint statement against anti-semitism and in support of their Jewish communities and invited other councils to add their support. It has since been signed by 65 councils. Almost 80% of Victorian Jews live in just four neighbouring LGAs: 55% in Glen Eira; 10% in Stonnington; and 7% in Port Phillip, and 6% in Bayside1.
Port Melbourne
Waterfront Place and Station Pier
1 – 7 Waterfront Place (now known as 1 & 5 Waterfront Place)
CASA Property bought the site in November 2024. The site has been cleared and the project is due to begin construction in the first quarter of 2026. The architectural direction is led by Woods Bagot.
103 Beach St (former Beacon Cove foodstore)
Luxcon’s development of 22 apartments and landscaping have been completed. There is concern that the proposed supermarket may be replaced by a gym.
Cruise shipping
Station Pier was re-opened to the public on weekends and public holidays, and when no cruise ships are berthed, from Sunday October 19, 2025.
Silversea’s sister ships, Silver Nova and Silver Moon, both berthed at Station Pier on the weekend of 29 and 30 November.
Bay St
Bay St had a 9.4% vacancy rate, according to Fitzroys Walk the Strip report (October 2025). It feels higher.
Whereas at one time the number of hairdressers in Bay St was the subject of commentary, now it is the number of barber shops.
Each block of Bay St has a different character. Fast food and take away dominate the block between Liardet and Graham Sts, while op shops are the focus of the block between Liardet and Bridge St.
The closure of the Port Melbourne Newsagency in November was a blow to Bay St.
The Local and Prince Alfred pubs also closed this year.
The former Port Picture Theatre remains a burnt out shell. The verandah was removed after bits of mortar were falling to the footpath. Apparently the owner is not willing to sell the property.
The site opposite, at 226 Bay St, bought on 4 May 2020 for $3,705,000, has been for sale since March. It begins to deteriorate through lack of care.
Housing
The year was dominated by the crisis in housing affordability, as well as cost of living pressures.
Construction is well advanced on the Homes Victoria Barak Beacon estate site. The development will replace 89 dwellings with 408.
167 houses were sold in Port Melbourne this year (163 in 2024). The median price of a house in Port between December 2024 and November 2025 was $1,552,000 , growth 0.0%2.
261 apartments were sold in Port Melbourne in the last twelve months (245 in 2024) The median price was $695,000, down -3.5%2.
The official cash rate as determined by the Reserve Bank at today’s date is 3.6%.
Parks & Nature
2025 saw the completion of the Lagoon Reserve pavilion, the Gasworks Park upgrade, and substantial new playgrounds at St Vincents Gardens and Sol Green Reserve.
Common to all these projects are gathering places – a new, and welcome, feature of park and playground design.
Emma Cutting’s Melbourne Pollinator Corridor project has grown to 53 gardens. The MPC aims to connect the Royal Botanic Gardens and Westgate Park one footpath garden at a time. The nature strip on Poolman St outside Port Melbourne Primary is the most ambitious garden to date. Emma’s rich reward is seeing the diversity of pollinators finding the sites.
Locally indigenous plants are more widely planted in a range of settings from planter boxes to highly designed landscapes like Dodds St.
Transport & mobility
Community impatience for further improvements to the 606 bus between Fishermans Bend and Elsternwick Station saw a petition launched which was strongly supported by the Port Phillip Council.
The implications of the Melbourne Metro which opened on 30 November have yet to be seen.
While the City of Melbourne banned e-scooters in late 2024, they continue to be well, and ill, used in Port Phillip.
The number of electric vehicles (EVs) continues to grow as a proportion of the national fleet. More than 72,000 EVs were sold in Australia in the first half of 2025, a 12.1% share of new car sales. (State of Electric Vehicles 2025)
In response to the rapid take up of EVs in Port Phillip, the Council has worked with provider EVX to install pole-mounted public charging electric vehicle stations. The first of these in Port Melbourne is in Liardet St at Edwards Park.
Sales of SUVs, especially small SUVs, soared this year. Of the top ten cars sold in 2025, only one was not an SUV.
An average of 1,100 new vehicles per day come in through the Port of Melbourne. Cars make up the highest proportion of non-containerised cargo through the Port of Melbourne.
Waste & recycling
Beach Patrol report a 33% decline in littered containers following the introduction of the container deposit scheme (CDS). However, in spite of the billions of containers returned through the CDS, only a 50% recycling rate is achieved.
Further refinements to the scheme are required to lift the rate, according to Dr Ross Headifen of Beach Patrol. Cans and bottles that are missing labels, or where the barcode can’t be read, are not accepted by Reverse Vending Machines. While the process works well for those who use it often, it can be daunting for casual users.
Volunteers from 3207 Beach Patrol and its sister group, Love Our Streets 3207, continued to gather data on rubbish collected in Port Melbourne this year.
| 3207 Beach Patrol | volunteer hours | glass bottles | plastic bottles | metal cans | |
| 2025 | 886 kg | 849 | 173 | 712 | 503 |
| 2024 | 976 kg | 912 | 200 | 700 | 461 |
| 3207 Love our Streets | |||||
| 2025 | 454 kg | 214 | 118 | 517 | 657 |
| 2024 | 725 kg | 262 | 174 | 566 | 678 |
People seem to have become quite accustomed to taking their food waste and bottles to bins in parks away from home. There appears to be quite a high level of contamination of the food waste with plastic bags.
The Port and Shipping
In March, CMA CGM Baalbeck, an 8,000 TEU containership was the first LNG-powered containership to visit the Port of Melbourne. The ship is also compatible with low-carbon energies such as biomethane and e-methane.
A last minute intervention by the US and Saudi Arabia put off agreement on a carbon pricing mechanism at the International Maritime Organisation meeting in London.
The Port of Melbourne released its Port Development Strategy 2055 on 23 December. In the short term, the focus is on making most efficient use of existing facilities.
The weather & climate
The hottest day of 2025 was 39.8 °C on 27 January at Melbourne (Olympic Park), and the coolest day was on 19 May 2025 when minimum temperature was 2 °C. (source Bureau of Meteorology)
2025 is currently tied with 2023 to be the second-warmest year on record according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Water & flooding
On 31 December Melbourne’s water storages were at 74.9 % (86.4% in 2024).
Melbourne Water with John Holland completed the project to replace the four pumps at the Port Melbourne Pumping Station. The pumps pump storm water out into Port Phillip Bay which protects surrounding properties from flooding. The pumping station has the capacity to deal with a 1:100 year flood event.
Word of the year
AI slop The Macquarie dictionary defines the word as ‘low-quality content created by generative AI [artificial intelligence], often containing errors, and not requested by the user’.
Sources and references
Feel Safe Be Safe Community Safety Plan 2025 – 2029
1 The Jewish population of Victoria Key findings from the 2021 census Jewish Community Council of Victoria
2 realestate.com
3 Copernicus Climate Change Service
4 Maquarie Dictionary
9 Comments
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Gary Levy
Dear Janet, Always great to read your 'Annual Report- really informative, and so important as a cross-sectional documentation of so many things that are placed in Port. As always, too, your photos are striking for what they capture and reflect. The blue (or gorgeously pink) skies remind us of what we can all hope for and aspire to. With continued appreciation (and much admiration), Gary
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John Milne
Sad to read about that burnt out Theatre Shell not changing Janet & the closure of the 2 Pubs just down the Street a bit.👎
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Heather Wheat
A very comprehensive report Janet on all fronts. Thank you. I have to say that it is heartening to read about multilevel housing developments as well as the (proposed) upgrading of public transport in the area. The ever increasing flood of wall-to-wall roofs spreading into the green space around Greater Melbourne is horrifying. Thanks again for keeping those of us on the fringes, so to speak, in the loop. Heather
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Judy
Thank you Janet for this extensive overview. A commentary at so many levels - built environment, ways of living, demographics, history priorities. So important to have this captured succinctly
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Steve
Thank you Janet for sharing such a wide range of aspects of Port social life. I especially enjoying seeing the photos of the old pumps from the Port Melbourne Pump station. Such an important piece of infrastructure that you never usually see.
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Thanks Steve - good to know what was happening behind that hoarding!
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Shake
Great to have you back in contact again Janet. And no slop here!...word of the year :) HNY
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Ramona Headifen
Love your work, Janet. Thanks for the 2025 review!
Ross
Great Read Janet. All the big news of our area in one place. Thank you.