MAJOR developers Trenerry Property will develop the former aged care home Sorrento Lodge into affordable accommodation for local workers if it gets the go ahead at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The company, which will join Victor Smorgon Group and the Kanat Group on the Sorrento project, has a track record in investment and development, recently purchasing the mid-century Burnham Beeches in the Dandenongs, and the Continental Hotel in Sorrento in 2020.
Sorrento Lodge, a 34-bedroom property on Ocean Beach Road, Sorrento, once operated as an aged care facility, but has been closed for three years and is ripe for redevelopment as a prime piece of seaside real estate.
It is believed the wealthy Melbourne families behind the purchase plan to tackle affordable housing on the peninsula and will use the property for their own workers, with rentals in the region notoriously scarce and expensive.
About half of the 77 beds will be taken up by staff working at the nearby hotel, which is due to open in May as the InterContinental Sorrento.
Mornington Shire council has shown support for the project, but the proposal is set to head to Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal after complaints from residents about potential noise.
Once redeveloped, it is believed workers will pay around $35-40 a night – or about $280 a week – for basic accommodation close to their places of employment.
If the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) rules in the developer’s favour, Sorrento Lodge could be open by November.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 29 March 2022
