Coburg icon Peppertree Place to reopen for two years after deal involving Oscar Yildiz, Uniting Church
A Moreland councillor has helped broker a deal to reopen a much-loved nursery after it had been set to shut for good, giving more than 50 volunteers a continued outlet.
North West
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BELOVED nursery and cafe Peppertree Place will keep growing plants for two years under a new committee.
The Coburg institution was open on Saturday for what was supposed to be the last time after service provider United Kildonan announced last month it would shut down.
A dinner meeting at Moreland councillor Oscar Yildiz’s house last week helped broker a deal between the Save Peppertree Place campaign, landowners Uniting Church and service providers Uniting Kildonan.
PEPPERTREE PLACE TO CLOSE DUE TO DECLINING SALES
VOLUNTEERS FIGHT TO SAVE PEPPERTREE PLACE
Exact details are still to be signed off, but control of Peppertree Place will be handed to Moreland Community Gardening on a two-year lease and a committee will be established.
Campaign volunteer Eleisha Mullane said the new lease would give volunteers the chance to prove the nursery was worth keeping alive.
Cr Yildiz, who was not acting on the council’s behalf, said the committee would be made up of members from the church, Kildonan, the campaign and volunteers.
“We’re trying to set the place up as a not-for-profit enterprise,” he said.
“I’m just rapt that the volunteers and the staff have this place to go to because they were almost shut out of it.”
Cr Yildiz said he got involved to keep the nursery open for educational purposes and praised the quick work of the campaign.
“This is a community coming together for the right reasons. They’ve come together to save a nursery that has been an icon of Moreland,” he said.
A reopening date is expected to be announced within the next two weeks.
Volunteers will have access to the site to maintain the plants in the meantime.
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