Up to 9000 people would live in a new development on Melbourne's eastern fringe under plans to transform one of the biggest vacant sites in the metropolitan area.
The development is planned for a historic 163-hectare property in Lilydale that was owned by Dame Nellie Melba's family for more than 100 years. It would include houses, terraces, townhouses and possibly apartments.
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Historic Lilydale site to become new suburb
A historical 163 hectare property that was owned by Dame Nellie Melba's family, is set to become a new development to house up to 9000 people.
The property comprises a former limestone quarry and vacant farmland. It includes former dairy and bacon factories, pot kilns used to produce lime, and other heritage features.
The Heritage Council of Victoria recently determined that a parcel of the property including these features should be included in the Victorian Heritage Register.
A limestone quarry and processing plant was established at the site in 1878 by the property's owner, David Mitchell, who was a prominent figure in 19th and early 20th-century Victoria, and father of the opera singer.
Mitchell was the building contractor who built such landmarks as the Exhibition Building and the Scots Church in Collins Street.
Quarrying ceased at the site in 2015. The property includes large tracts of undisturbed land and large areas of overburden from mining, as well as a quarry pit that covers about 25 hectares around its perimeter and is about 120 metres deep.
The developers plan to fill the quarry and compact the soil, an exercise bound to cost many tens of millions of dollars and take years to complete.
The pit will be transformed into open space and eventually, in the final stages of the development, is intended to be a site for some housing.
The project is a joint venture between Intrapac Property, Hume Partners and Bayport Group, with Intrapac the site's developer.
David Payes, Intrapac Property's managing director, said the property would eventually be home to an estimated 7500 to 9000 people.
"The original Plan Melbourne identified this as one of the 20 key redevelopment sites in metropolitan Melbourne," he said.
"It's ideal for residential development. And re-purposing of the heritage buildings I think is critical, and recognising its history, so it's not just another carve-up of land. There needs to be a lot of open space; we're trying to create a great community."
Intrapac chief operating officer Max Shifman said the site would eventually house 2000 to 3000 properties.
"We think there is a major underlying demand, because there's been a lack of supply in the east of Melbourne, full stop," he said.
Mr Shifman said the quarry pit accounted for only about 15 per cent of the site.
"Living on the quarry itself is not a problem," he said. "What we'll be doing is we'll be filling it with very high standards of geotechnical monitoring, and compaction and engineering, to make sure that it can be built on."
Lilydale and District Historical Society president Sue Thompson said the project was "a massive opportunity for Lilydale", but it must preserve the site's "heritage features".
She said: "The quarry has now outlived its usefulness and David Mitchell would say, 'Move on, turn it into something'. A, being a dour Scot, he'd say that makes money, but, B, that is a benefit and asset to the Lilydale community."
Ali Wastie, director social and economic development at Yarra Ranges Council, said the site was by far the largest property available for new housing in the shire.
"It's massive in scale, it's got huge place-making potential and it's really a once in a lifetime opportunity to get right," she said.
The first land to be sold at the site, in an area already zoned residential, is expected to be on the market before the end of the year.