Victor Harbor | Developments & News

[Howie]

Is it the Gold Coast? Maybe Glenelg? No, it's Victor's new look
By XANTHE KLEINIG
29dec05

SOUTH Australia's favourite seaside getaway will receive a $50 million facelift, starting in the New Year.

It is hoped the redevelopment will keep Victor Harbor the state's top summer destination, its population swelling annually from 12,000 to 38,000 between Christmas and New Year.

Victor Harbor Mayor Scott Schubert said yesterday the town needed to maintain its popularity. "We have to remember we are in competition with other coastal towns and if we sit back and do nothing we will lose ground," he said. "We have to keep our competitive advantage and upgrade."

Mr Schubert said the 20-year plan would make the most of assets such as the foreshore and main street.

"The CBD does need a major facelift because in some parts it is looking tired and does need work," he said.

"What we're aiming for is a revitalisation."

The plans include:

BETTER paths between the town and the foreshore.

DEFINED areas like a town square.

A COASTAL promenade.

IMPROVED parks and gardens.

NEW car parking.

BUILDINGS higher than 12m could be allowed once a separate report is completed.

Council manager Peter Hall said council wanted business to pay for up to 70 per cent of the $50 million revitalisation by upgrading existing buildings and starting new developments.

The council also will ask the State Government to contribute to the plan.

Victor Harbor business association representative Phil Mahoney was "optimistic" about the redevelopment.

He hoped it would be good for business: "It would obviously bring a lot of new people into the area," he said.

Public consultation, which included a meeting of out of town property owners in Unley, is now complete.

The council is scheduled to approve the plans at its January meeting.

Visitors will notice a difference in the town from the middle of 2006, when a new east-west walkway between Railway Tce and Ocean St is completed. The next priority will be walking and cycling paths on the foreshore, followed by improved signage for tourists.

Residents Taylor Lindschau and Renee Totty believe the redevelopment of Victor Harbor is well overdue. Mr Lindschau has lived in Victor Harbor for the past 15 years, and said it was in need of a makeover.

"Instead of just looking after older people, we should be encouraging younger people to come and stay," he said. "We need to encourage people, especially young families, to live here and not just come and stay for a couple nights." Mr Lindschau said he liked the look of the redevelopment plans.

"It's good because it's modern-looking and still appealing to families, and it's not straying too far away from old Victor Harbor," Mr Lindschau said.

"I think a lot of older people who live in Victor Harbor like it the way it is and want it to stay that way but Victor Harbor won't grow with that mentality."

Renee Totty agreed, saying the redevelopment would help the town during the winter season. "During winter, if the development comes aboard, we'll all be able to reap the benefits of what happens in summer, and we won't have such seasonal tourism," she said.

Anyone manage to get the render ?

[Howie]

CBD facelift decision soon
Brooke DuBois
Thursday, 5 January 2006

VICTOR HARBOR - Two public meetings attracting about 60-80 ratepayers to each, as well as mailed-out and online surveys, made up the public consultation process regarding a proposed upgrade to Victor Harbor's Town Centre.

This period of consultation is now over, and it is up to City of Victor Harbor councillors at their January meeting to make a decision as to whether the Victor Harbor Town Centre will go ahead with a facelift, which could cost up to $50 million.

If the vote is yes - they will also decide which parts of the draft plan will be implemented into the final master plan.

City of Victor Harbor Mayor Scott Schubert said the meetings were held in Victor Harbor and in Unley, for ratepayers outside of Victor Harbor, for the public to bring their ideas.

According to the Mayor, the meetings featured a number of displays to get people thinking about possible options.

Mr Schubert said a third meeting was held to report on what the public had commented on, and report on the plan overall.

"The feedback that's been coming in has been overwhelmingly in favour of revitalisation of the town centre," Mayor Schubert said.

According to the City of Victor Harbor's website, the community has provided strong support for the above ideas during public consultation.

link

[Al]

I was down at Victor not too long ago and I thought "the Frontage" apartments was quite nice. Contemporary design and multistorey will certainly add to the appeal of Victor. If they can allow a decent height limit down there (say 60m) that will be awesome.

[shibby]

i would love to see a good 50m hotel rise above the pine trees at victor, it would look very attractive. the actual town centre needs to be expanded a bit more into the suburban areas and have a plaza zone where all the shops are.

[Howie]

Great news for Smithfield plains and Victor Harbor

Mirvac in $70m SA deal
DEVELOPMENT
Maurice Dunlevy
March 14, 2006

AFTER more than 30 years, listed property group Mirvac has made its first foray into South Australia, joining with local project managers Gemtree Property to develop a $70 million housing estate on Adelaide's northern fringe.

Mirvac and Gemtree, which will eventually amalgamate their South Australian operations, have formed a joint venture that will develop over 350 homes at Playford Waters, in Smithfield.

In a separate deal, Mirvac will go it alone on a second project planned at the popular resort town of Victor Harbour, 80km south of Adelaide, where it proposes a 700-home estate on land still undergoing rezoning. It is understood Mirvac purchased the 70ha rural site recently from a local private owner.

The projects give Mirvac an initial interest in more than 1000 residential allotments in South Australia and mean it now has a presence in all mainland states.

Gemtree managing director Simon Cross will become Mirvac's South Australian regional manager and eventually Gemtree will cease to exist.

Gemtree's handful of staff will be employed by Mirvac.

Mirvac's last interstate move was to Western Australia in 2001, when it acquired the Fini Group, one of Perth's largest inner-city developers.

Established in 1972, Mirvac is one of Australia's largest diversified property groups, controlling $20 billion of assets through development projects, investment, hotel and funds management. It now has about 18,000 lots across Australia that will be developed over the next decade.

Mirvac Homes chief executive Robert Lynch yesterday confirmed the company's joint venture arrangement with Gemtree, which is seen in Adelaide as a huge vote of confidence in the housing sector. Although cooling, Adelaide's housing market has been one of the nation's best performers.

Mr Lynch said moving into the South Australian market was a natural extension of Mirvac's already successful, Australia-wide business.

"It's a good mix of Gemtree's local nous and Mirvac's long pockets," said one residential developer.

Playford Waters, in Adelaide's burgeoning northern suburbs, is an established project where builders have already created a 25-display housing village.

Mirvac still has some planning hurdles to jump before the Victor Harbour project gets under way.

Mirvac sees enormous potential in the site, where house prices are on par with many of Adelaide's better suburbs. The summer playground has historically been a retirement town, but interest in the area has accelerated in recent times as the sea change phenomena changes the state's coast region.

Mr Lynch said Mirvac's Victor Harbour interest was aligned with its recent launch of Seascapes Mandurah, its first unlisted property development fund. The $12.8 million fund will develop and sell 528 residential lots at seaside Mandurah, south of Perth.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/co ... 58,00.html

[AtD]

Bah, more mass-produced, featureless and unsustainable sprawl. Once it's all been sold, they'll hand it over to the LGA. The developer fucks off interstate with the profits and the LGA struggles with the maintenance bill.

History Repeating.

[crawf]

From todays tiser


$250m homes plan for Victor Harbor
By LOUISE TRECCASI
15mar06
A $250 MILLION master-planned residential community has been proposed for Victor Harbor to meet housing needs in the booming seaside town during the next decade.

The Mirvac Group, a national property trust, has secured a vacant 67ha site on the corner of Adelaide and Welch roads - the gateway to the town.

Its future planned residential project could see up to 700 new homes built.

The development, to be carried out over eight to 10 years, also would include major open space.

While no application has been lodged with the council, the land would need to be rezoned for any development to proceed. This could take at least two years.

If approved, the project would feature single and two-storey houses, combining rural allotments and blocks suitable for courtyards and villas.

Land prices would start from about $110,000 and exceed $200,000. House and land packages would start in the high $200,000s. Blocks sizes would range from 300sq m to up to 3000sq m.

Mirvac Homes chief executive Robert Lynch said the company saw "enormous potential" in the Victor Harbor site.

Mirvac's Adelaide business partner, Simon Cross, from Gemtree Property, said the population growth rate in the Fleurieu Peninsula region "is running twice as fast as the metropolitan average.

"There is strong demand for quality housing for relocaters, holiday homes, retirement living, investors and lifestyle (chasers).

"The site has views back to the Victor Harbor hills, across the McCraken Golf Course, back to the Bluff and views back towards Hindmarsh Island." Victor Harbor mayor Scott Schubert said there was strong demand for local housing. "One of our aims is to encourage more younger families to the area and we want to work with developers to come up with a range of housing to suit their needs," he said.

The Mirvac group has formed a joint partnership with Gemtree to develop more than 350 homes at the $70 million Playford Waters development in Smithfield

[skyliner]

Greetings all from Brisbane

On reading the articles about Victor Harbour I find it is high time the place was allowed to move on from the little country town feel - especially down the main drag.

As soon as development ideas come along it seems people collapse with paralysis. It seems the Gold Coast is held up in fright (Pop. about 450000) Victor has only about 12000 and is not in danger of becoming a GC. So many lessons have been learnt over time that I feel Victor is quite 'safe' and has huge potential to develop in a far more tasteful way. It obvious that pushes for more development will come and if the town is to grow as SA's tourist mecca ideas will have to change. Rules and controls haveto be there, but not paralysis from over analysis.

Its a great place but needs to move on,.

[Pistol]

Greetings all from Brisbane

On reading the articles about Victor Harbour I find it is high time the place was allowed to move on from the little country town feel - especially down the main drag.

As soon as development ideas come along it seems people collapse with paralysis. It seems the Gold Coast is held up in fright (Pop. about 450000) Victor has only about 12000 and is not in danger of becoming a GC. So many lessons have been learnt over time that I feel Victor is quite 'safe' and has huge potential to develop in a far more tasteful way. It obvious that pushes for more development will come and if the town is to grow as SA's tourist mecca ideas will have to change. Rules and controls haveto be there, but not paralysis from over analysis.

Its a great place but needs to move on,.

Does It? I find the relaxed atmosphere down at Victor is one of its attractions. Don't know whether we need large scale buildings down there just yet. Just keep these low - mid rise apartments develop the town first. A big 50m hotel or the like would stand out like dogs balls and detract from the feel of this holiday town. Plus we need the infrastructure first if we are to develop this town. Extend the train back down there and have a dual carriage freeway connecting to the Southern Expressway then you could possibly get the volume of people there to make large scale buildings worth while to developers.

[Mants]

Victor Harbor is very seasonal aswell, so if a ;arge hotel were to be built, it would only really be full 3 months of the year

[Ho Really]

Victor Harbor is very seasonal aswell, so if a ;arge hotel were to be built, it would only really be full 3 months of the year

Besides the lack of infrastructure Victor Harbor's major problem is that it faces the Southern Ocean. Great in summer but a bit chilly in winter.

Cheers

[littledyl16]

It would be awesome to see some really big develpoing going on down in victor. its probably the most popular town in regional sa.

[stumpjumper]

A $250 million retail/residential centre is to be built at Encounter Bay, on Waitpinga Road.

It's a Major Project - the first both the Victor Council and the local residents heard of it was when the plan was unveiled today.

OK, so there's 30 days of public consultation.

But still, does the government know anything about managing projects to minimise wasteful confrontation?

I don't know the first thing about this project, but I can tell there will be a brawl. The govt's methodology almost guarantees it.

I suppose if you're the govt and you've got more time, manpower and money at your disposal than anyone else. then you can just wade in. obliterate opposition as it arises and do what you f-cking well want.

[JAKJ]

I suppose if you're the govt and you've got more time, manpower and money at your disposal than anyone else. then you can just wade in. obliterate opposition as it arises and do what you f-cking well want.

What a brilliant idea...And it definately works well in China! (Their ability to produce high quality infrastructure and masterful city planning leaves us so far behind it isn't funny) Good on them... I am liking this rann government more and more..

It probably the smartest way to get development of a reasonable size in Victor Harbor. Spring it on them so that they don't have any time to organise a protest and lobby groups, because you know very well that any large development down there no matter how much merit it may have will not be built if it was up to locals and council, on the sole principle that it is large.

Unfortunately Victor Harbor is a major tourist attraction for people visiting Adelaide and Adelaidians who for some reason like going to visit our own little peice of the antartctic and therefore adequete facilities need to be provided. Considering its importance to the whole state (not unlike the CBD <hint to the acc> ) it makes perfect sense that the STATE government makes planning decision, not the inbred council of decaying geriatrics that makes up local government in Victor Harbor

[Cruise]

not the inbred council of decaying geriatrics that makes up local government in Victor Harbor

it funny you say that have you seen the average age of
A. Councliers
B. Members of the Parkland Preservation Society
C. Those who rallyied against the tram line extension

in closing i say there all pensioners with to much free time up their sleeve so they go out and complain about everything. There i said it.