Armstrong Creek Town Centre opens in the heart of $1 billion residential development
Armstrong Creek Town Centre opens its doors in the heart of the $1 billion future residential development site, which Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson sold for a pretty penny.
Victoria
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Victoria’s newest shopping centre has opened on land once owned by former Essendon Football Club captain Mark “Bomber” Thompson.
The Armstrong Creek Town Centre shopping centre opened its doors on Wednesday in the heart of the $1 billion future Armstrong Creek residential development site, which he sold in 2016 for a reported $32 million.
The former sheep station between Geelong and Torquay was bought by Thomson in a syndicate with Essendon’s recruitment manager, Adrian Dodoro, and developer Mark Casey (the brother of former Richmond president Clinton Casey) for $3.8 million. Subsequent government zoning changes allowed the precinct to be replaced with new housing able to accommodate up to 60,000 residents.
Current developer and former Essendon Vice Captain Andrew Welsh says the Armstrong Creek Town Centre will be the civic, commercial and social heart of Armstrong Creek.
Stage 1 of the development, comprises Coles, Liquorland, Anytime Fitness, along with supporting specialty retailers including TerryWhite Chemmart, Cignall and Bakers Delight, with Dan Murphy’s, KFC and Hungry Jack’s to open early next year.
“To see it out of the ground in the world as it is at the moment is amazing,” he says.
“The Armstrong Creek growth area is one of the fasted growing corridors in Australia and Stage 1 will initially service approximately 58,000 people, with the suburb set to rapidly increase to more than 110,000 residents by 2036.”
The project, located in the fastest growing area in Victoria seven kilometres southwest of Geelong, adjoins the future Armstrong Creek Train Station.
Recently announced by the State Government as part of $160 million commitment to expand the train line to accommodate the booming population growth, the future train line will provide direct access to Geelong and the Melbourne CBD.
While the Covid crisis has created its challenges in many areas, Welsh says it has actually created more demand for the residential and potential commercial areas of the development.
“We have seen residential lot sales increase in the area through Covid with a large number of purchasers choosing to move toward an area that suits their lifestyle but with the town centre close to opening many have seen having this being on their door step as a major factor in them relocating into the region,” he says.
“People look to be making serious life changing decisions around flexible working so choosing a destination that suits their lifestyle is becoming more and more popular.”
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