The $12.5 million project to transform a former hospital into Victoria Park’s hottest entertainment destination has secured the support of the Metro Inner Development Assessment Panel.
The panel green-lit the major heritage project after a unanimous vote at a meeting on Thursday morning.
It follows the town in 2023 signing a 20-year lease with Australian property firm Blackoak Capital Ventures for it to restore and redevelop the Edward Millen Heritage buildings on Hillview Terrace.
The project will see the two-storey Rotunda building restored to be used as a bakery, cafe, retail space and office space, while the Mildred Creak building will have a bar, bistro, microbrewery, museum or gallery and function rooms.
The site will also have an ice-cream parlour, art studio, community market, petting zoo and childcare facilities.
At least 116 trees will also be planted.
Blackoak Capital has also been “strongly encouraged” to “consider” adding a lift to to provide universal access to the first floor of the Rotunda building.
“This property has been vacant for as long as I can remember … it kind of just disappeared out of view from the community, so finally having something happen here is going to be one of the best things the town will probably ever see happen,” Cr Peter Melrosa said at last week’s meeting.
“It’s a state heritage building and having it just sit there for such a long time is a bit of a travesty.
“There’s been a lot happening at this end of the town and the building is a gateway to the town, and I think it’s really going to help that part of the town grow and prosper.”
The precinct began life in the 1910s as the site of the Rotunda Maternity Hospital and was used as a hospital for Spanish influenza patients in 1919, a sanatorium for ex-service personnel in 1942 and renamed Hill View health facility in 1982.
In 1999 the site was entered on to the State Register of Heritage Places.
As part of the redevelopment, the Federal Government has committed $4 million of funding towards heritage restoration.
“It’s always a substantial challenge to get adaptive reuse of heritage buildings and we’ve seen the result of not being able to use something where the building has been boarded up and just they just deteriorate,” DAP presiding member Ian Birch said.
“They can’t be all museums, they have to function in today’s world and I think this is a fabulous result … it’s just a further addition to one of the best entertainment precincts.”