Stockdale Street, the other Dickson hub undergoing a development transformation

The Dickson Town Centre is undergoing a renaissance but there’s another part of the suburb also being transformed by housing renewal.

A multitude of medium-density developments are planned for Stockdale Street in the southern-end of the suburb.

Many of these are already being snapped up by buyers, including dwellings at Stockdale45, the Signature Apartments and the Santana.

The nearby Otto Terraces, less than a block from Stockdale Street at the corner of Dooring and Hope Streets, is also on the market.

Another two proposals have been lodged with the ACT government, one on Stockdale Street and the other a stone’s throw away on McGowan Place.

The first development application outlines plans for a three-storey apartment building containing 11 units, plus basement parking.

If approved, an existing duplex building will be removed and the remaining two blocks consolidated. It will be replaced by a mix of one, two and three-bedroom dwellings, designed by Oztal Architects.

The McGowan Place development application details plans for 16 units across two, two-storey buildings, plus some third-storey lofts.

Three blocks will be consolidated to make way for the project, designed by DNA Architects, if the proposal is approved.

Developer Bill O’Neill of Bond Projects said it was a winning location, with surrounding inner north suburbs and the city close by.

He said Dickson’s growth; the introduction of light rail and other developments along nearby Northbourne Avenue; and the site’s proximity to arterial roads, were among the drawcards.

“You could choose to walk to work, you could choose to ride a bike,” he said. “If you’re driving a car the ability and ease of getting out of the area is phenomenal.”

Mr O’Neill said extra density in the inner north would help activate the city. 

“The city after hours and on weekends during the day can be pretty quite. The more people closer to the city, the more cosmopolitan city centre we’re going to have.”

The Stockdale Street area is just one pocket of significant development underway in Dickson.

Dickson on Northbourne, previously home to the Dickson Towers, Karuah public housing and the original tourist information centre, sold under the hammer for $40 million in August.

The 30,000-square-metre site facing Northbourne Avenue will eventually include 697 dwellings, a hotel, restaurants, shops and a childcare centre.

The town centre is also undergoing a transformation, largely led by the controversial plan to build two supermarkets and 140 apartments on the existing carpark outside Woolworths.

The development, led by the Doma Group and Coles, was given the green light in June, after a number of changes to the original plans.

The Malabar Apartments are being built in the town centre on Cape Street.

Public housing renewal is also continuing along Antill Street, with the duplex where Joe Cinque was killed in the late 1990s set to be demolished to make way for new units.