Southern Peninsula YOUR GUIDE TO WHAT’S ON THIS WEEKEND FOR PENINSULA FAMILIES FACEBOOK:
Speak to your agent about listing on realestateview.com.au.
peninsulakids.com.au mornpenkids
An independent voice for the community
INSTAGRAM:
Your weekly community newspaper covering Safety Beach to Portsea For all advertising and editorial needs, call 03
2377
FREE
Be seen everywhere.
Wednesday 23 October 2019
5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au Colourful creations: Fashionistas Talitha Bladen and Tyler Leach. Picture: Yanni
Students’ creativity on display A PENINSULA Teenage Art and Fashion Exhibition at Dromana Secondary College this week attracted a record number of garments designed and produced by students. Parents and Friends Association president Natalie Derri, who organised the Monday 21 October event, said: “We had entries from Toorak College, Padua, Rosebud Secondary College, Elisabeth Murdoch and, of course, Dromana College students. “Four esteemed fashion designers critiqued the students’ creations last Sunday and prizes were awarded at the exhibition. “It was an amazing event with the VCAL students also supplying the catering on the night.”
Owner’s DIY plan for ‘Conti’ project Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au AFTER the failure of two financial deals the owner of Sorrento’s Continental Hotel Julian Gerner says he will redevelop the 1875 limestone icon on his own. Mr Gerner late last week said he had “secured the future” of the Sorrento landmark by retaining ownership “after a period of commercial complexity and a series of unforeseen circumstances”. His decision follows the collapse in may of then-partners the Stellar Property Group and the failing of a sale to
LBA Capital. “I have negotiated an agreement to deliver on the vision to restore, renovate, protect and preserve the 1875 ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ hotel for the Sorrento community, all Victorians, interstate and overseas tourists for generations to come,” Mr Gerner said in a statement issued by Royce Communications on Thursday headed “Julian Gerner secures Hotel Continental future”. Mr Gerner says his new ownership entity, The Ocean Amphitheatre Company, honours the “father of Sorrento” George Coppin, who built the Continental. To secure funding for what is now a
$100 million project, Mr Gerner said he was finalising a “comprehensive and compelling investment information memorandum” and was “confident that [the] required funding will be secured imminently”. Despite putting the pub back on the market in 2017, after “coming to the conclusion that [its redevelopment] is too big to handle alone”, Mr Gerner is confident this time around the project is now “more advanced; more resolved and a much more valuable proposition”. He said Heritage Victoria and the Mornington Peninsula Shire are “supportive” of his plans. “Required maintenance work is on-
going and an ‘army’ of consultants are working tirelessly, targeting a recommencement of construction post-Australia Day, 2020,” Mr Gerner said. He said the development now included a “world class hotel resort as well as car parking, commercial office and a staff accommodation facility at a projected cost of $100 million”. Previously tagged at $80 million, he said the extra cost had come about through the acquisition of an adjacent property in 12 Riley Lane with a “series of pending and new planning applications to be consolidated on the site of more than 1.5 acres on Constitution Hill”. The launching of “new planning
applications” may sound alarm bells with council and the Nepean Conservation Group, which opposed the height of a proposed seven-storey apartment complex at the rear and deplored the council’s handling of the sale of public land for a car park for $1.8 million. (“Hotel’s VCAT victory” The News 27/2/17). Mr Gerner said last week the excavation of 18.5 metres at the rear of the site would be extended to allow for more car parking and a wellness centre. He said the project would create 200 permanent jobs and generate a “major economic impact on the town and the greater Mornington Peninsula”.
LUXE KITCHEN
BONUS VISA GIFT CARD WITH SELECT PRODUCTS
UP TO
$
500
GIF T * C ARD
CATALOGUE OUT NOW 1263 POINT NEPEAN ROAD, ROSEBUD, VIC, 3939 PH: (03) 5986 5544 DESIGNERAPPLIANCES.COM.AU