San Remo Fights Back As Developers Move In
The Sunday Age
Sunday September 14, 2003
Perhaps best known for its crayfish trade, the Bass Coast township of San Remo is facing a surge of popularity that has seen its property prices hit a king tide.
In the sleepy gateway to Phillip Island with a population of less than 900, real estate values have jumped 69 per cent in 12 months, the steepest increase in Victoria.
On the books are two proposed golf course developments, collectively worth more than $100 million. However, one of the projects, headed by Duncan Andrews, former boss of credit-rating agency Australian Ratings and now a golf-course developer, is in doubt due to local resistance.
Nestled at the foot of the bridge to Phillip Island, San Remo was established in 1840 as a deep water port. Commercial fishing has been a local industry since 1909. There are also fishing charters and ocean tours for tourists.
Melbourne families heading home from their Phillip Island holiday shacks feed the pelicans at the Fisherman's Co-operative, which includes a popular fish and chip shop.
But the days of lying in the development shadow of Phillip Island and Inverloch, further down the coast, seem over.
Latest figures from the Valuer-General showed that San Remo property prices rose 69 per cent between 2001 and 2002.
Since 1993, property values have risen five-fold. The average house price has rocketed from $70,000 to as much as $500,000, according to San Remo's PBE Real Estate principal Derek Whitehead.
San Remo's ocean and beach views across Western Port, Phillip Island, Bass Strait and Cape Woolamai are attracting up to $700,000, Mr Whitehead says.
Real estate agency Stockdale and Leggo's Carrie Paul describes ``huge changes" in the local market, with undeveloped blocks now very hard to come by.
``It's come from a cosy fishing village that had been overlooked, to being the gateway to Phillip Island," Ms Paul says. ``For instance, Penniwell's Estate (subdivision) was selling for $40,000 two years ago and prices are now up to $180,000. It's difficult to obtain property under $250,000, although you can still get a two-bedroom townhouse for around $275,000."
It seems that ocean and peninsula views are like a siren's call to semi-retired baby boomers in their 50s and 60s, keen to exchange city smog for salt air.
The manageable 90-minute commute to Melbourne is also enticing change of lifestyle buyers in their 40s.
Bass Coast Shire Council chief executive, Allan Bawden says more ``part-time residents" are spending three days or so in San Remo, before heading back to Melbourne to keep touch with their businesses for the rest of the week.
``Anecdotally, a lot more people are commuting back to the eastern suburbs," he says.
The two golf course developments promise dozens of jobs and millions of dollars for the local economy. But it hasn't all been smooth sailing.
Golf course developer Duncan Andrews confirmed his $80 million Bass Coast Golf Links Resort, on Punchbowl Road, is on hold after complaints from residents to the council that a proposed residential subdivision associated with it was a threat to San Remo's picturesque, rural feel.
Mr Andrews says he's deciding whether to resubmit amended plans to the Bass Coast council for a residential subdivision he says he needs for the project to go ahead.
Mr Andrews was behind the Dunes Golf Links, in Rye, and 13th Beach, in Barwon Heads.
In the 1980s, he headed credit rating agency, Australian Ratings, before selling it to Standard and Poor's in 1990 and concentrating on developing golf courses.
The original San Remo permit, issued in March 2000, covered an 18-hole international-standard golf course with four accommodation lodges, club rooms and club accommodation.
But Mr Andrews' request in July 2002 to build 166 dwellings to help fund the golf course resulted in a petition opposing it, signed by 600 residents.
Petition initiators Earle and Ann Embrey, who live opposite the proposed subdivision, argue it will block the road's ocean views, which they say is a tourist drawcard.
The Bass Coast council has asked Mr Andrews to halve the number of residential sites. But Mr Andrews says it is not viable and he is willing to sit on the site until ``community attitudes" change.
Much less controversial has been the $20 million Bass Coast Resort Golf Club, developed by the Melbourne-based Golf Club Properties on Shetland Heights Road, the site of a former pony stud.
The land was bought from the family of Rob Maclellan, a planning minister in the Kennett government.
The project will include an 18-hole golf course, designed by professional golfer, Graham Marsh, with a hotel, a residential land subdivision of 29 blocks of .4 hectares and a 100-apartment health spa resort and conference facility.
All but four of the residential blocks - 11 with golf course frontage - have been sold off the plan for an average of $500,000 to $600,000. Construction is expected to begin in the middle of next month.
Golf Club Properties director John Hendra hopes to sell the resort apartments over Christmas. Owners will have the option of leasing them back to a boutique hotel at the golf course. Construction of the course and its facilities is expected to be finished by December next year.
Mr Hendra says up to 180 jobs, including construction and hospitality, could be created in the short term. ``Certainly it's an input to San Remo of quite a few million dollars," he says.
Meanwhile, locals are noting the changes to their little village.
Fisherman's Co-operative manager Pam Ward has added sushi to the co-op's menu of fish platters and signature crayfish.
``We're selling a lot more crayfish and the more expensive cuts of fish now than we did," she says.
When John Methven bought his home 14 years ago for $24,000, it was the first in the street. Now only two blocks remain. ``We bought our second block four years ago, for virtually the same price. But now there are only two empty blocks and I think they are going for about $80,000-$100,000," he says.
Mr Methven is also the president of the National Vietnam Veterans Museum, established in San Remo four years ago. The museum, which had 17,000 visitors last year, will soon move to Phillip Island after its site was sold for an unconfirmed $450,000.
© 2003 The Sunday Age
