Save a jewel of Geelong
EOI to redevelop Osborne
A DEVELOPMENT group led by Geelong property mogul Robert Costa has bought a waterfront mansion at Rippleside and revealed plans for a residential development.
CostaFox Developments has signed an $11.3m deal on extended terms to purchase the 12,742sq m site from Catholic charity MacKillop Family Services.
The property at 9 Helen Street and 39 Bay Street comprises the old Stella Maris Convent, older residential buildings and MacKillop’s Geelong operations.
The National Trust-registered two-storey Italianate mansion, built in 1849, was formerly known as St Helens.
The Sisters of Mercy acquired the building, overlooking St Helens Beach and boat ramp, in 1923.
CostaFox development director Geno Hubay said the mansion would be refurbished to add prestige homes and apartments to the surrounding vacant land in sympathy with the landmark.
CostaFox managing director Michael Fox said the company wanted to restore the old mansion.
“It’s one of the first mansions in Geelong, so we wanted to keep that and bring it back to life,” he said.
Planning for the boutique development was in an early stage, he said, with Rothelowman architects retained for the project.
MacKillop Family Services is expected to move its operation.
Mr Fox said Geelong had been on the firm’s radar for some time.
“But we needed a site that allowed us to showcase our highend offerings,” Mr Fox said.
“Our Rippleside site has uninterrupted, commanding views over Corio Bay and back to the Geelong CBD and is also surrounded by parkland.”
THE City of Greater Geelong will call for expressions of interest from investors keen to redevelop Osborne House and the surrounding precinct, with one councillor voicing concerns the “depressing” site “couldn’t get any worse”.
Councillors voted on Tuesday to launch the one-month EOI process for the “sustainable development and use” of the site, seeking interest from potential investors and the government.
“The EOI process will be a competitive process designed to occur in two stages,” a city report noted.
“The aim of this being to provide confidence that only parties who can demonstrate a capacity and capability for the contemporary redevelopment and repurposing of historical buildings will be seriously considered.”
Councillor Anthony Aitken said the city’s heritage assets were “a challenge”, but provided “immense opportunities”.
“The Osbourne House site, which incorporates the house itself, the stables, the polo field and the adjacent areas in front of it, actually is the most significant landscape that actually sits in Corio Bay,” he said. “What would be better for the sustainability of this precinct is if we can find a partner that could actually work with us, and actually understand the principles that we have about this site location.”
Investors will be required to abide by cultural, social, financial and sustainable principles laid down by the council last year, requiring the site to be retained in public ownership.
A CoGG report noted the public ownership requirement “may present a risk to potential investment by private partners”, and the council may need to consider ways to “provide certainty of tenure and development rights over the land and buildings to attract any potential private partnership”.
Councillor Bruce Harwood said the city needed to bring the site “back to its former glory”. “I can only argue that Osborne House couldn’t get any worse,” he told Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s been closed, and denigrating now for years and years and years, and it’s depressing to go out to Osborne House and see it in its current state.
“It’s become a site where we are to blame perhaps as much as the state government as well, and we need their support, we cannot do it on our own.”
Financial analysis suggests the cost of its redevelopment would be between $21m and $48m, with the CoGG expecting it will need to contribute up to $10m.