THE owner of the former Kingswood Golf Course in Dingley Village has abandoned its plans to redevelop the land and has begun the process of selling it.
The golf course at 179-217 Centre Dandenong Road has been owned by AustralianSuper since 2014 – it acquired it for $125 million. The super fund has been planning for years to build around 800 dwellings on the land, but has failed to get the project approved. A report on the proposal was handed to the planning minister’s office 18 months ago, but a decision has yet to be announced.
Last week, AustralianSuper announced it would sell the site. It has commenced an off-market expression of interest process.
AustralianSuper development senior investment director Fiona Dunster said the fund had chosen to sell the land to focus its efforts on other larger scale projects.
“AustralianSuper has tripled in size since we invested in the site nine years ago and this development is simply too small for the fund we are now and will be in the future,” Dunster said. “By selling the site, we believe we will deliver a return to members and can then redeploy the funds into larger scale investments more aligned with our long-term property strategy. Examples of the sorts of assets we are looking to invest in in future include Moorebank Logistics Park in Sydney – Australia’s newest intermodal facility – London’s King’s Cross Estate where we are completely rejuvenating this famous area of London over a 25-year development plan and our 25 per cent ownership of the Assemble Communities Platform and $500 million investment in five build-to-rent-to-own residential developments in inner Melbourne.”
Dunster said that AustralianSuper is “confident” of selling the land by the end of the year.
A media release from AustralianSuper read that the company still hopes to see the land developed. “AustralianSuper still believes that the development of the site should proceed as proposed as it will provide increased housing diversity and stock in this key growth corridor within the middle-ring of Melbourne as well as community and social infrastructure that will benefit the local community for years to come,” it read.
Planning minister Sonya Kilkenny did not answer questions from The News on the status of the proposed golf course subdivision. The minister’s office also did answer similar questions from The News in July (“Council urges golf course redevelopment reform” The News 25/7/23).
Kingston Council wants to see the proposed redevelopment abandoned. The mayor Hadi Saab said “Kingston is calling on the minister for planning and AustralianSuper to abandon the application to ensure any new owners can start fresh with the community. Given the potential change of owners, this is an ideal time to start a genuine process to engage with the community on the future of the site.”
“The proposed development sparked over 8000 community objections, was opposed by Kingston Council and is currently awaiting a decision from the Victorian planning minister. We made very clear to the advisory committee we have serious concerns about the current proposed development and that it should not go ahead,” he said.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 6 September 2023