Elite Park will transform the vacant 32-hectare site located between the Tullamarine Freeway and Airport Drive into a leisure, entertainment and retail destination. The precinct will complement the nearby URBNSURF facility and Essendon Football Club’s training grounds by bringing new and exciting commercial tenants to the airport precinct.

Melbourne Airport is working with several prospective tenants, including leisure and entertainment, large-format retail and food and beverage outlets.

Elite Park will enhance the existing leisure offerings in the precinct, attracting local visitors as well as tourists, delivering significant economic benefits to Victoria.

Elite Park is expected to contribute approximately $246 million annually to the State economy and support 2,140 jobs across a range of sectors.

Employment opportunities are expected to be filled largely from nearby communities in the Hume and Brimbank municipalities.

Elite Park is designed with features that include a green pedestrian thoroughfare, large areas of generous landscaping, and links to existing bike paths and bus routes.

Pending approval, development will occur in stages over the next nine years.

Construction on the first stage is due to commence in 2025 and will include:

• New road infrastructure connecting Mercer Drive and Airport Drive into the precinct
• Earthworks, utilities and stormwater infrastructure
• Large retail and outdoor leisure destinations

We expect the first operators to be opening by the end of 2026.

Further stages will deliver premium entertainment, hospitality, retail and leisure attractions. Elite Park will be an exciting destination for locals and visitors.

Melbourne Airport will prioritise traffic management during construction and as businesses open. Traffic assessments have guided the approach to managing traffic flow, which will occur at each phase of development to ensure that access routes can accommodate construction and visitor traffic.

The Tullamarine Freeway and Airport Drive will have direct access to Elite Park so that local communities are not adversely affected.

Thorough surveys of flora and fauna have found no presence of state or federally significant species other than Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain (NTGVVP). NTGVVP is a threatened ecological community protected by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) so its removal will require that Melbourne Airport secure and manage compensatory ‘offsets’.

We are also in the early stages of planning an appropriate relocation strategy for the kangaroos that currently graze the land.

Elite Park is highlighted in the Melbourne Airport Master Plan 2022 as an important non-aviation development precinct. Melbourne Airport has prepared a Preliminary Draft Major Development Plan (MDP) to support our community consultation and eventual application for Ministerial approval of the proposal. 

The Preliminary Draft MDP is available for members of the public to consider and make comment. The period for review and comment starts on 26 September 2024 for a period of 60 business days, ending 20 December 2024. 

The Preliminary Draft MDP is available online through this link or can be downloaded via the link below. It can also be viewed in hard copy at the office of Australia Pacific Airports (Melbourne) Pty Ltd, Level 2, Terminal 4, Melbourne Airport, between 9.00am and 5.00pm Monday to Friday. 

Members of the public are invited to provide written comments on the Preliminary Draft MDP to the Planning Manager, Melbourne Airport, Locked Bag 16, Tullamarine VIC 3043, or via email at [email protected]. The closing date for receipt of submissions is 20 December 2024.

There will be an information session open to local community members on Thursday 10 October 2024 at URBNSURF, 309 Melrose Drive, Melbourne Airport. To attend, please register via this link: Elite Park MDP Community Information Session - Register Here (jotform.com)

Melbourne Airport will have a community pop up at the Tullamarine Community House, 30 Carol Grove, Tullamarine, on Wednesday 23 October. For further details, please visit the Melbourne Airport community pop ups page.

If you have any questions about this proposed development, please contact [email protected].