A CONTROVERSIAL 400-dwelling high-rise proposal for Williamstown could double in size, according to documents submitted to Hobsons Bay Council last Friday.
Nelson Place Village Pty Ltd originally proposed more than 400 dwellings, including four towers up to 13 storeys high, on the former Port Phillip Woollen Mill site.
But a construction management plan submitted last week shows 765 apartments and 25 townhouses could be built on the site bounded by Nelson Place and Ann, Aitken and Kanowna streets.
Evolve Development managing director Ashley Williams denied that the plans indicated the number of dwellings to be built.
“Any reference to dwelling numbers is based on modelling for infrastructure and traffic assessment only and does not constitute our application for the site or our plans for the site,” he said.
“The final number of dwellings will be subject to market demand, approval processes and economic conditions.”
He said that after the council refused to co-operate on the “restoration” of the Britannia Hotel to turn it into a site office, an application had been lodged to demolish the heritage-listed Oriental Hotel and and start building up to 141 dwellings.
Mr Williams said he planned to create a shopping hub with a “robust” design on the site of the Oriental.
“The collective advice of our heritage consultants and structural engineer is that the current condition of the Oriental Hotel is beyond salvage,” he said.
Save Williamstown spokeswoman Suzanne Orange said residents were shocked by plans to demolish a “significant local landmark” and build nearly 800 dwellings.
“Instead of wanting to cram 10percent of the population of Williamstown into the small site, the new plans will see almost 20percent of the population of Williamstown living cheek by jowl on the two blocks overlooking historic Point Gellibrand,” she said.
“This is a site roughly the same size as the Williamstown football oval and the plans are way beyond anything that went to the council in 2009 or the Port Phillip Woollen Mill advisory committee in 2011.”
She said the loss of the Oriental would be “another nail in the coffin for Williamstown’s history”.
According to Heritage Victoria, the Oriental is a significant and rare example of 19th century architecture.
