Bunnings puts former Panorama TAFE site on the market
Hardware giant Bunnings is selling the former TAFE site in Panorama almost three years after pulling out of plans for a new $42m store. Now developers are expected to compete for the 3.4ha site.
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Hardware giant Bunnings has put the former TAFE campus in Panorama on the market almost three years after scrapping plans for a $42m hardware at the site.
Development of up to four storeys is allowed on the Goodwood Rd site after it was rezoned last month as part of Mitcham Council’s “Growth Precincts” development plan amendment.
Under the new mixed-use zoning, the 3.4ha site presents an opportunity for “integrated, high-quality mixed use developments up to four storeys in height (residential is envisaged above ground level)”.
“The scale and intensity of development will transition downward at the edges of the zone where it has an interface with residential zones,” the updated development plan says.
Under the new guidelines about 150 to 270 homes could be accommodated on the site.
Mitcham Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross said it was the right time to build on the site following major redevelopment work on the nearby Repat hospital and the State Government’s commitment to retain and invest $10m in Springbank Secondary College.
“The site is part of our key growth precincts and the reason for the rezoning is to revitalise that whole area,” Dr Holmes-Ross said.
“We think it’s important that any development is sympathetic to the need for open space, particularly if it’s going up high with infill.
“We’d like to see a mix of accommodation and retail – that’s what we think would stimulate the site best.”
Bunnings paid $7.81m for the property in 2014 after the State Government relocated classes to a new TAFE campus in the former Mitsubishi factory at Tonsley.
Plans for a $42m hardware were scrapped in 2017 after the council’s development panel rejected the hardware chain’s proposal.
Bunnings later decided to build a new store on South Road at Edwardstown instead.
Panorama Clapham Community Group spokesman Neil Baron said it was important for the site’s buyer to engage with the local community.
“We would clearly love to see something happen on the site if it’s done in the right situation,” he said.
“I think it depends on the design – if they want to plonk a whole bunch of units on there, then it’s going to come up against opposition in the community, but if it blends in and it’s done with a bit of care then it will get support.”
Colliers International director Justin Hazell, who’s been appointed to sell the property, said he expected to field offers “either side of $450 per square metre”, which equates to around $15m.
He said the site, which includes close to 182m of frontage to Goodwood Road, offered developers a “myriad of future development options”.
“The property offers buyers the opportunity to undertake a full redevelopment of the site for medium- to high-density townhouse and apartment development, retirement, aged care, retail, commercial, childcare, medical or a mixture of all of these given the scale of the site,” he said.
Expressions of interest close on October 15.
