Overview
Glen Waverley has long been a hub for food, thanks to a myriad of Asian grocers and small but tasty dumpling places on Kingsway. The last few years have also seen neighbouring shopping centre The Glen undertake a flashy development, extending the retail options to include the likes of Huxtaburger and a new fresh food market hall, and evolving the overall look of the place. The latest in this revamp is the news that the top floor of the centre will become a huge 4000-square-metre sky garden.
The new space will be part of a new residential development named — you guessed it — Sky Garden. As well as topping off The Glen with some natural goodness and adding a bit of life to what can otherwise be a sterile environment, the garden will also be the bottom floor of a huge new residential complex of 555 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments that will be built above the centre.
The garden will be designed by Aspect Studios and is another move towards utilising industrial space for a more natural and eco-friendly focus. According to developers the Golden Age Group, the 4000-square-metre space will feature "outdoor dining and entertainment amenities". And, as well as green views to the Dandenong Ranges in the east and the bay in the south, the garden will extend up the new apartment structure too — each apartment will come with a balcony with vertical greenery.
Unfortunately, the gardens will only be accessible to residents of the new apartments. So, if you manage snag one, lucky you — but the rest of us will have to be happy knowing the city has received another much-needed injection of flora and chlorophyll.
It follows in the wake of the news that Melbourne's south will soon see a 2000-square-metre rooftop farm and restaurant as part of the new Burwood Brickworks development, a sustainable shopping centre designed by eco-designer Joost Bakker. This one will be open to the public.
There are big changes afoot over here — the apartment block and the new developments at The Glen are expected to cost $450 million and construction is expected to commence in late 2019. But don't panic: the dumplings on Kingsway are safe for now.