New Melbourne mini-suburb to be built in Melbourne's inner north after new planning controls approved Proposed plan for a multi-million dollar development on the former AMCOR site in Alphington. A NEW mini-suburb in Melbourne's inner north will be built on the former Amcor paper mill site, after the State Government approved new planning controls. Sources close to the government confirmed construction of the industrial site in Alphington, to be transformed into a $1 billion suburb for about 3000 people in up to 1500 dwellings. The details of the site approval have been revealed exclusively to the Herald Sun. Planning Minister Matthew Guy said yesterday it would be unlike any residential area in Melbourne's northern suburbs and a boost for the Victorian construction industry. "It's a great location, it's on the Yarra, it's very well positioned," Mr Guy said. You will certainly be able to see the city and see the Yarra, so there will be some terrific views and a great, quiet little neighbourhood that will be built within the site. It is very, very large. I think it will be a good outcome getting a mix of housing choices. So you'll have townhouses as well as apartments on a good site that will take a lot of pressure off the existing quiet neighbourhoods that surround it. The 16.5ha site, just 7km from the CBD, was occupied by Amcor until last year and has been vacant since. The amendment to the Yarra Planning Scheme will give the green light to developers after Amcor yesterday announced it had sold the site to a consortium led by Alpha Partners for $120 million. The plan will require buildings be set at least 40m back from the Yarra River and 10m from the crestline of the river bank. About 70 per cent of the site will be limited to three or four storeys. But there will be a signature building on the corner of Heidelberg Rd and Chandler Highway that could go as high as 14 storeys. The development will include community facilities, a child care centre, shops and commercial offices. Five per cent of the residential space will also be set aside for affordable housing stock. Mr Guy said, most importantly, the site would no longer be an eyesore in the area. "I think it's about giving the community certainty; this issue around what is going to happen here has been going on for a long, long time," he said. He said the size of the development was smaller than initially expected. Former planning minister Justin Madden approved the development of more than 2000 dwellings on the site in 2009, when the Yarra Council had expected about 1750.