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Adaptive reuse is the flavour of the day for development in Geelong with two developers filing separate applications for projects that reimagine existing structures.
Both proposals filed with the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning are based around buildings within heritage overlays, but with very different approaches to design.
HR Investments Aus is behind plans for the redevelopment of The Star Hotel on a 260sq m site at 81 Myers Street.
The hotel is a two-storey, round-corner brick building that dates to the 1850s and is at the corner of Star and Myers streets.
HR Investments’ plans by architects and urban designers The OCD and Trethowan Architecture involve demolishing an existing extension to the building, partially demolishing part of the hotel, and building a 12-storey tower that would cantilever over a podium and the hotel.
Entry to the tower would be recessed via Star Street. There would be a lower ground and basement level for carparking under the tower and a cellar under the hotel.
Entry to the carpark would be from Star Street.
End-of-trip facilities and bicycle storage space for 10 bicycles are planned for the first floor with office space on the remainder of floors and terraces on levels 10 and 11.
The hotel would have retail and commercial space on the ground floor and office space on the first floor.
There develoment would have a total gross floor area of 2005.5 square metres.
CoreLogic property records list the site as last changing hands in November, 2018, for $1.23 million with settlement in August 2019.
Documents submitted to the state department list HR Investments Aus Pty Ltd as the site owner and the estimated cost of works as $14 million.
ASIC records list Harpreet Singh as the director and sole shareholder of HR Investments Aus Pty Ltd.
Meanwhile, Ryrie Land has filed an application for a 999sq m site at 1 Little Ryrie Street in Geelong, the site of the former Wesleyan minister’s residence, as listed in the heritage overlay.
Cera Stribley Architects has designed the plans for the project, which would retain the original 1850s heritage building, reconstructing its western facade and frontage, and building a new apartment block next to it.
While that new block would have seven storeys, the slope of the site means the view from Little Ryrie Street would be of five storeys, and the view from Goodall Lane to the east would be of eight storeys.
The block would comprise 27 apartments—12 of three to four bedrooms and 15 of one to two bedrooms.
It would have three basement levels with 27 bicycle storage spaces and 40 carparking spaces.
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CoreLogic property records show that the property was last sold in December, 2021 and settled in December, 2022, for $2 million.
ASIC records list Adam Michael Davidson and Joseph Nicholas Van Dyk as directors of Ryrie Land Pty Ltd.
Van Dyk is also the director of Hygge Property, which is listed as the developer for the project on documents submitted to the state planning department.
The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning will refer the applications to the Greater Geelong City Council for its response but final determination rests with the Victorian planning minister Sonya Kilkenny.
Geelong’s population is growing, increasing the need for residential and tourist accommodation. Meanwhile, companies are also looking for office space for employees who can’t afford to live closer to Melbourne and want a shorter commute to work.
