Will Chapel Street Survive If On-Street Parking Is Removed

The City of Stonnington is currently in the process of creating a masterplan for their Chapel Street Transformation Project. Their ambitious goal is “to transform Chapel Street into one of the great streets of the world.” This project is heavily supported by cycling lobbying groups who are wanting to see on-street parking removed from Chapel Street in order to create safe cycling passageways. It is possible that the council may head in that direction. Such an outcome is feasible since there have been many cyclist injuries and even some deaths on this very popular cycling corridor that runs from Princess Hwy all the way to the Yarra River, along Chapel Street. 

A possible outcome will be to remove all on-street parking on Chapel Street from Greville Street, Prahran all the way to Toorak Road, South Yarra. This would take out a very large chunk of convenient car parking spaces from this large retail, dining and entertainment precinct.  

It seems that Chapel Street needs plentiful parking to survive as a shopping and dining strip. The on-street parking on this long stretch of activated shop fronts has been providing that for years. But if that gets taken away, it seems that the street will seriously suffer. I’m not sure that the council has plans to replace the lost parking as they recently spent over 60 million dollars to double the car parking spaces at Prahran Square (Cato St). The Cato St car park now has two underground levels of underutilised paid parking spaces bringing the total car parking spaces there to 500, with a public square on its roof at ground level. This car park is great for Chapel Street as it is right in the heart of the precinct. But are 250 additional spaces enough to make up for the potential loss? Well, it depends on how much other off-street parking spaces there is on offer. 

The planned redevelopment of the Jam Factory will provide more retail and entertainment space plus a host of dining options. Additionally, it will provide many more residents, hotel guests and office workers to the retail part of the Chapel Street precinct. This project is great for Chapel Street as all of this will be in the heart of the precinct. 

It is interesting to note, though, that currently there are 970 public car parking spaces at the Jam Factory. With 448 (one, two and three bedroom) apartments to be built on the site along with 164 five star hotel rooms as well as a decent amount of office space, I doubt that The Jam Factory mixed use precinct will offer much in the way of public car parking space at all. So potentially that’s another 970 public spaces gone. 

It is clear to see that if the council goes ahead and removes on-street parking on Chapel Street, then a significant number of off-street parking spaces would need to be available to make up for the huge loss as well as for the demand for car parking spaces. I’ll discuss what off-street parking is available further down. But first, I’ll talk about the different parts or components that make up the Chapel Street precinct and their parking needs.  

The famous South Yarra part of the precinct, which is mostly retail focused, has already been suffering for a number of years, with shops closing down being the norm for around a decade now. This may coincide with the opening of the luxury Emporium Melbourne shopping centre in the CBD in 2014 as well as the world class redevelopment of the Chadstone Shopping Centre which opened in 2016 (which is appropriately dubbed the fashion capitol). 

Interestingly, around early 2019 (after the opening of some trendy cafés) there was a sudden resurgence at the South Yarra part of the Chapel Street precinct, but then COVID-19 kiboshed that. This highlights the potential for this part of the precinct to bounce back, given the right conditions. There is still a decent amount of foot traffic in this area, especially on a nice day or on the weekend. 

Currently, the on-street parking at Chapel Street is free and it’s quite easy to find a spot in this retail part of the precinct. That’s probably what makes it inviting for shoppers. There are a number of fashion boutique and designer stores here that have a large following. People drive in, park their car near by and visit their favourite stores before they jump back into their vehicle and take off, all before their one or two hour parking limit expires. They may even have a coffee or something to eat, only if time permits as the parking inspectors are known to be tough and plentiful. I’ll talk about what off-street parking is available in this part of the strip further down. 

The popular Prahran part of the precinct, which is mostly dining and nightlife, has Cato Street, the Prahran Market and King Street car parks which will be able to continue to serve this area well in the evenings if on-street parking is removed. There is also plenty of on-street parking on Commercial Rd, Malvern Rd and High St that can serve this area well into the night. So then, even if on street parking is removed on Chapel St, Prahran should hold up. 

The also popular Windsor part of the precinct (at the southern end), which is also dining focused, may not be affected by the removal of on-street parking if the removal of spaces begins at Greville St Prahran. There is a modest amount of off-street parking there anyway, should the removal of on-street parking go all the way to Princes Hwy. Additionally, people visiting this part of the precinct in the evening can also find parking on High street. So then, Windsor should also hold up if on-street parking is removed on Chapel Street. 

Hence, the most vulnerable to the potential removal of on-street parking is the South Yarra retail part of the precinct. This also happens to be where The Jam Factory is, which as I mentioned earlier will potentially lose 970 public car parking spaces. The South Yarra area also has the longest part of the precinct as it stretches from Commercial Rd all the way to Toorak Rd with no main roads running perpendicular to Chapel St in between. 

What then, is there by way of off-street car parks to service this stretch of retail strip in South Yarra, should the council decide to remove on-street parking. Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that there is plenty of off-street parking there. The bad news is that much of it gets used up and it’s not very cheap and convenient compared to what visitors to the retail part of Chapel Street are used to with on-street parking. Let’s analyse the off-street parking that is available there. 

The Prahran Market car park which is at the southern Commercial Rd end of the retail precinct has 644 car spaces. Their prices are reasonable but they have very cheap early bird parking. Hence many workers park there. This car park also services the busy market, hence on market days, two of its three levels are usually full of vehicles. So there is a small amount of parking available there for retail shoppers. 

The Colonnade parking lot on Forster St near the Jam Factory has 370 spaces. It is quite popular with many workers in the area parking their vehicles there for the day as the all-day parking rates are good and it is close to the shops. Hence it is convenient for shop keepers to park there. I don’t think that there would be many spaces left after the workers take them. 

The Como Centre has 632 car spaces but their prices are exorbitant. This car park is well positioned at the northern Toorak Rd end of the retail part of the Chapel Street precinct, but who would pay such high rates to park and shop. Their early bird prices are cheap though which is only suitable for workers. This car park would be popular with the workers of the Como Centre office building as well as the twenty four story office building across the road from it at the Forest Hill precinct. 

Further north from the Como Centre is another car park with 600 spaces at 670 Chapel St. Their prices are reasonable, but they also have cheap early bird prices, which would also make it popular for workers. As this is also right next to the Forest Hill high rise Residential precinct and there is always construction of new apartment buildings going on at this concrete jungle, many construction workers would likely park there for the day. This car park also services the small shopping centre above it. It also is a bit of a walk from the Chapel Street shops which makes it not ideal for shoppers who want to come in and out of the Chapel Street retail strip quickly. 

Finally, the Daly Street car park at the Forest Hill precinct has 620 spaces. Its prices are quite high for short visits. Around $6 per hour. Most shoppers wouldn’t pay that much. It also has early bird parking, though not as cheap as its competitors, which is popular with construction workers due to its prime location at Forest Hill. It’s also right next to the twenty four story office building hence it would be popular with its workers.

If you compare all of this to driving to the Chadstone Shopping Centre where you get free all day parking, and you can walk right into the shopping centre as soon as you park your vehicle. Then, who would pay so much to shop at Chapel Street as well as put up with the inconvenience of parking further away than where they want to be?

So then, what can the Stonnington council do to help the parking situation if they take away on street parking from Chapel Street? They could subsidise the public car parks at the Toorak Rd end of the precinct, in order to give shoppers parking discounts if they spend a certain amount at the retail stores at the Chapel Street precinct. 

As we can see, there is a quite a number of off-street parking spaces at the northern end of the Chapel Street precinct. Soon, the Forest Hill precinct will be full of buildings, hence, there will be no need to build more. This means that there will be much less construction workers taking up the car spaces at these public car parks. Any other building projects around South Yarra will be much smaller as they are surrounded by low rise residential buildings and the zoning laws are different to Forest Hill. 

It looks like the Chapel Street precinct may see a new era if the Stonnington council removes on-street parking and replaces this with wider footpaths, more trees and safe cycling corridors. The council may also decide to remove through traffic on Chapel Street which has been talked about.

More retail shops will surely close down. The rents on this retail part of Chapel Street are often exorbitant as certain super rich landlords (who own multiple shops) refuse to lower their rents. They are content leaving their shops empty rather than lowering their rents. This makes it hard for many shops to survive or for new tenants to come in.

This new era may see more cafes and restaurants open up. Such demand may come from visiting cyclists and the local residential and corporate community which is constantly growing. The urbanisation that is happening in and around the precinct can only be a good thing for it. Chapel St boasts the tallest building outside of the CBD and surrounds with a fifty story apartment sky scraper at Forest Hill, on the corner of Chapel St and Toorak Rd. This stylish building called Capital Grand is a real feature as it can be seen all the way down Chapel Street to Windsor.

Yes, Chapel Street can survive if the City of Stonnington removes on-street parking. This exciting precinct may just see a new era coming. That may be a good thing.