I had a function in the Docklands precinct of Melbourne last night. Lot’s of nice waterfront restaurants, popular brand retailers and it’s aesthetically pleasing… yet it is a veritable ghost town. I asked some of the retailers about it and they all told me the same thing…. No one comes here, it’s always quiet.
Sure new precincts take some time to build, but it’s nigh on ten years now and the Docklands still feels like a soulless wind tunnel. Interestingly everyone agrees it will be a cool place, it just isn’t yet.
The Melbourne City Council knows Docklands ain’t what it should be. In order to attract traffic they came up with two of the worst ideas in they’ve had in some time:
1. The Souther Star Observation Wheel – at a cost of $40 million+.
Which is now the wheel of broken dreams and didn’t seem to like hot weather.
2. Free Rent to retailer Costco – A little known fact is that USA retail Costco was wooed to Docklands by Government authorities with the quiet gift of free rent for 3 years. Hoping that would generate foot traffic for the suffering region.
* An equally terrible idea as people drive in from the outer suburbs fill their car boot up with 100 rolls of toilet paper and drive home.
Here’s a simple idea for the Docklands authorities to get people to their empty party:
Free Parking
Yep, sometimes the simplest innovations are the best. People love free parking. …. “Let’s just go to docklands, there is plenty of parking and it’s free” – decision made, party gets started. A simple redirection of the $40 million wheel could have paid for parking for 10 years. It would make Docklands an obvious choice among people wanting food, entertainment and shopping therapy. But in classic government fashion they opted for complex solutions where a simple one existed.
Lesson? Startups ought look for the simple solution first.
As someone from a startup who chose to move to the Docklands earlier this year, I kind of agree and disagree.
I agree Docklands has potential, but free parking is not the answer. There is already parking here at a flat rate of $5 a day, with 8 levels of space. There are never more than 2 levels of space full up, and the top level is used more to film car commercials than to park cars.
When you are heading out on a shopping spree to spend a $10 and upwards, I don’t know that the difference between free parking and $5 all day is that much of a deal killer.
Was the wheel a good idea? On the surface it probably is still a good idea, as it would bring the right type of traffic down here and expose more people to the docklands. The execution of the wheel was a complete debacle, but it doesn’t mean the idea itself was all that bad. I guess we will see in 12 months time when it is back up.
The issue with the docklands shopping precinct (i.e. Harbourtown, which is really what we are talking about here), is that it has nothing to differentiate itself.
1. It’s a DFO equivalent, when there is already a DFO at Spencer Street.
2. It’s a pain in the arse to get to via public transport, when I can easily walk 100 metres from Southern Cross Station to go to the DFO.
3. It’s exposed to the elements, whereas every other outlet aggregation is indoors. The wind down here is cold and whippy, so this does not make for a pleasurable shopping experience.
4. The restaurants along the water are high end and not cheap. Harbourtown right next to it is a low end series of factory outlets. Complete brand disconnect.
The problem is not the parking. The problem is the product.
Oops – that was meant to be $100 and upwards! 🙂
Good thoughts to improve a bad situation – I feel sorry for the docklands traders every time I go there. Enjoyed your talk last night though so thought I’d check out your blog!
Well, I agree with the brand disconnect…
Some really good points Scott 🙂
What I am saying is – how do you get traffic to a place which has some problems with it’s product… Seriously you need to do something more immediate, while the ‘product is renovated’.
Parking has this weird non rational impact – it’s not the money, the $5… it changes perception about value – it creates experimentation, where people beleive they don’t have to spend anything, even thought they ultimately do.
In closing I think the point is, what simple innovations (with relatively low cost) can be experimented with to improve the situation?
Steve.
I definitely agree they need to do something while they search for the right fit. They are trying a lot of things, some of which are good and some of which are lame. Winter Wonderland fake snow machines anyone? 🙂
The problem with Harbour Town is that it is searching for what Marc Andreessen would call “Product to Market Fit”. It needs to iterate until it gets there, but unfortunately it is not a piece of software. If you don’t get it right out of the gate it is really expensive to fix over time.
They have dropped a “me too!” business model (factory outlets), into a crowded market (DFO, brand junction, smith street, etc etc), on real estate which is a pain in the arse to get to.
The only long term solution? Continue the train line from Southern Cross right up to a new station in the Docklands.
Back to Costco —
It would be a great idea for Costco to let people in the store to look around before they are required to sign up as members. I was very turned off by their polite arrogant attitude when I was instructed to put up my $60 on faith that I would find great bargains. As a new entity in Australia they should be embracing people with open arms! Are they going to “make it” here with that attitude?
As a customer, I agree that lack of public transport is a big turn off. If am out anywhere in the CBD/nearby areas, I can walk or take a tram or train to a 100 other places for more shopping or movies or food or pubs. At Docklands, I feel somewhat stuck there. Bit too far to walk to CBD and bit too near to get the car out and search + pay for parking again! Not sure that free parking would solve this problem.
And brand disconnect from the fine dining restaurants along the water also creates confusion.. Do I go there when am in a shop-cheap-have-fast-food mood or in an elegant-anniversary-dinner mood?
well lets get the facts right first, costco is not on rent free and own the site, the wheel did not break due to hot weather and it cost a lot more than $40 million.
as for the rest, parking should be free but Vic Urban wont allow the devlopers to provide free parking, another ludicrous government policy.
the shopping cente should have been covered, again Vic Urban wanted street scape shopping.
Vic Urban and City Of Melbourne are solely responsible for the unused Marina as neither is prepared to put the facilities in place that are required.
we as traders cant even get them to cut the grass or fix the potholes, but i assure you they have no issues with taking rates and issuing parking fines in the area.
even befor streets are completed the grey ghosts are out booking people.
how do we fix it? everyone has to get involved co operativly, but no body really cares enough, developers just want to build units, government departments just want to colect rates and parking fines.
our Lord Mayor even went on air with Neil Michel on 3AW and compaine about the ghostly Marina. Hello MR Mayor, you own it you idiot.
it is because of you and the likes of you that there is nothing there.
so in short we are all screwed.
The free parking seems worth trying. While the carpark might only be 25% occupied at $5, cash-strapped city office workers might be willing to embrace the free option as a defacto “park + ride” (or “park +walk”) option. But what proportion of them would actually frequent Harbourtown (versus just passing it by)?
One challenge for the Docklands authority is how to justify the move in these carbon-conscious times… should we really be encouraging folks back of public transport to private vehicles?
Nevertheless, I like the creative approach Steve.
A topic close to my heart 🙂
Not going to comment too much on the Wheel, Costco decision or even the free parking except to say – bringing more cars to within 3km of the CBD unnecessarily… really?
The Vision Thing – creative and cultural – needs to be addressed first and urgently for Docklands. And LOTS of small coordinated “next step” sustainable ideas being planted on the way to achieving that would be useful – there are great people here and some things are happening already but planning seems really fragmented.
Plus whatever that vision looks and feels like, wouldn’t it be good if it gave Docklands the one thing it’s missing most – when you visit Docklands, shouldn’t it feel at least a bit like you’re actually still in Melbourne? Have spoken to a few people and have ideas for that, you probably do too.
Also while Docklands is still evolving, things change rapidly but the myths often persist, for example, there are actually a few public transport options for getting into and out of Docklands: http://www.livingdocklands.com/docklands-public-transport.
My theory is the docklands has no soul which is a real turn off for melburnians who are all about heart. If we can compare it to start ups the lesson might be, sincerity will bring organic growth – don’t try to b something you’re not (I agree w the me too point raised earlier)
Perhaps it isn’t about $5 or free. Perhaps it is about promoting that there is car parking available. I certainly didn’t know that….My perception was that parking would likely be a problem and hard to find.
Generally the marketing that you see to promote Docklands is all about discount warehouse (as pointed out – hardly a unique destination) or ice skating (on a very second rate rink).
Is it an issue of content and marketing? Give us a reason to visit and promote that reason heavily across the ‘burbs.
I do remember some very similar discussions around the attendance (or lack of) at Darling Harbour when it hit the 10 year anniversary. The common thinking then was that a connection between DH and the Sydney CBD was needed.
Monorail anyone?
Yes, went along last night to the event and enjoyed your presentation, hence why I’m reading your blog now.
The main problem with the Docklands is that due to it mostly being about the restaurants and shops it is narrowing its audience to that of adults/couples. There are plenty of great restaurants and cute laneway bars in the CBD, why go to the Docklands? The Docklands cannot recreate this amazing atmosphere, the bars are too big, (they just agreed to one which could hold 650 people), so you’ve got lots of massive empty spaces.
So they’ve tried to target the ‘event market’ – lots of big spaces/bars, holding lots of people. Wrong. Again, CBD hotels and bars do it very well. Besides which, whenever I go to an ‘event’ in the Docklands which I did last night, there are lots of people wandering around lost. You can’t find anywhere! Not a good thing when you need people to be somewhere at a specific time.
What the Docklands needs to do is appeal to the daytime traffic, young kids, school trips, museums, theatre, circus, cinema, families during holiday time and have less expensive restaurants cater for them. Shops and restaurants are not enough. There needs to be something different to pull people in. The ice-rink is a good start but I’m not sure when it’s open and to be honest have never seen any marketing for it. Manchester in the UK had a similar ‘project’ in ‘The Quays’. The regeneration of a bad part of town but due to a fantastic museum, lots of activities for kids and sporting events, it’s a very popular destination for families: http://www.thequays.org.uk/whatson. They in turn bring business to the restaurants, bars and coffee shops.
Agree with Scott, don’t think parking is a deal breaker.
It’s a tough ask being so close to the CBD, but I think as long as it focuses on adult evening trade, it will struggle.
Well firstly let’s consider how well docklands has really developed, for an area that is only 10 years old it’s doing okay, there are lots of things that could improve, but remember Docklands is like building the CBD again (seriously docklands is actually bigger than the CBD). So here’s two thoughts for you, Melbourne has taken 160 odd years to develop into the mix it has today, I’m sure if you turned up in Melbourne in 1845 it probably had it’s problerms, and there are parts of the cbd that are still crap, spencer sreet end of lonsdale street anyone, just like there are bits of the docklands that are crap.
Here are some of the thing I think they did wrong (not that I have any training in urban deisgn, but I do have a high opinion of my own opinions).
They created (maintained) a barrier between the CBD and Docklands with the Rail line and Wurriendeji way (sorry about ther spelling), Over time they will get covered over, but until then it’s a problem.
The docklands stadium is in the wrong spot. If you consider that docklands is a supermarket, The stadium is your Milk, it’s the reason you come in, you don’t put the milk at the front of the store, you put it at the back, so you have to walk past everything else to get there don’t you ?
They developed the edges first, why do harbour town and Yarra’s edge? first, they should have started in the middle and worked outwards, rather than having a ten minute walk between the two population centres.
So how do you fix it? You need to give people a reason to go there, and a reason that is beyond shopping, and food. You need to put some entertinament down there (the wheel was probably the most expensive way of doing this), it needs cinema or a theatre or tempory events, like they have tried with Cirque de Soliel and the Di Vinci exhibition. The reason resturants work (short of the very few that are destinations in themselves, a vue to monde and alike, is that they are near the place you are really going, i.e. the theatre etc.
And if you think exhibitions and events don’t draw people, you only had to go to scienworks during the star wars exhibition to know that people go to this stuff no matter where you put it.
Would free parking help? maybe, but do you really go somewhere that has nothing but resturants just becuase you can get a free park (and yes I know you love some free parking Steve, so you might) what would help more is some activities, an art gallery. And as a few people have mentioned, the city council is promoting Public transport over cars (rightly)
Absolutely. Great idea Steve. Send this blog to the decision makers. It’s a travesty that the waterside space is so lifeless.
Love it. I would love to spend more time down at docklands, but it’s just so hard to get there. Free parking would totally change my opinion.