New-housing designs showcased on a grand scale will put Geelong In the spotlight
Geelong and its coastal and country neighbours became instantly closer to Melbourne after the opening of the bypass that now sweeps around the western edge of Victoria's second-largest city.
The flow-on from this timesaving road also allows Melbourne house buyers to think a little differently about Geelong and a new planned community to be built on the southern edge of Geelong may appeal to tree-changers, seachangers, Geelong-Melbourne A tale between two cities The Geelong bypass will lead to the creation of a community, with schools, shops and space. commuters and those pushed out of Melbourne by high housing costs.
The Armstrong Creek planned community project fast-tracked by Planning Minister Justin Maddenwill be built on 2500 hectares of land 10 minutes north of Torquay, near Lake Connewarre, and will eventually have about 20,000 homes and a population of about 60,000. It will be serviced with schools, shops, transport links, a business park and recreation facilities a new town, essentially, on the southern fringes of Geelong.
Mr Madden said at the time the project was announced that Armstrong Creek within easy reach of the Geelong bypass, the Western Ring Road, Geelong itself and Avalon airport would be "the primary growth corridor for future urban development in Greater Geelong". Housing blocks within the $3 billion development have started coming on the market and one of the estates, Warralily, has had two releases of land and is now selling Stage 2A: 27 park-edge blocks ranging from 434 square metres to 705 square metres. One-third of the Armstrong Creek project a joint venture between Casey Capital Partners and Newland Developers is allocated for open space. Most blocks at Warralily even those that are not park frontage are within 400 metres of a park, playground or sporting reserve.
Of the 27 blocks that went on sale last Saturday, 16 have sold, with some buyers camping out to get premium parkside blocks. Some buyers were from Geelong but others were drawn from Melbourne, particularly the western suburbs. Prices begin at $163,000 for standard-sized home sites. Warralily's sales and marketing manager, Crystall Mousios, says that while Stage 2As release was of standard housing sites, later releases will include medium density-sized blocks. A display suite and sales office is open on site and more blocks