$100m Grove Project

Hamish Heard
A $50 million international hotel, nursing home and convention centre development are on the drawing board for Ocean Grove’s Seachange Village estate.
A former federal minister has joined forces with an IT consultant on the project, part of a $100 million master plan for the 10hectare Bonnyvale Road site.
The project would also include a new public hotel and entertainment precinct, a medical centre, a public swimming pool, a gymnasium and other sport facilities.
Construction of the development’s first phase, 136 retirement villas costing $50 million, began late last year.
Developer Seachange Management has submitted plans for the second phase, a 150bed nursing home, a 100bed hotel and community facilities, to City of Greater Geelong’s planning department.
Seachange Development director Giuseppe De Simone said the plan would generate 500 ongoing jobs and fill a “desperate” need for quality accommodation, retirement and convention centre facilities in the region.
“When the development is fully finished we’ll be one of the biggest employers on the Bellarine Peninsula,” Mr De Simone said.
Seachange Village would enable Bellarine Peninsula retirees to remain close to family and friends.
“It’s basically an ageinginplace strategy,” he said.
“Residents will be able to live independently in the retirement villas and as their health deteriorates they can move into an aged care facility on site.”
Local drinkers would also be winners if the development won council approval, Mr De Simone said.
“Once we have these other facilities in place we’ll undertake a multimillion dollar redevelopment of the hotel and gaming area, probably in about four or five years,” he said.
Mr De Simone said the existing hotel had temporarily closed for a refurbishment in the meantime.
“When you’ve got a community facility like that your really have to protect it,” he said.
“The last thing you want is to lose the locals’ support.”
Mr De Simone, an IT consultant by trade, is married to former Liberal Senator Karen Synon. His business partner in the venture is former federal Labor minister Alan Griffiths.
“We’ve had a lot of government support (for the proposal) at a policy level but at an administrative level things tend to lag a bit,” Mr De Simone said.