By Luke Voogt
A planned $350m sports facility in Modawarre could deliver 1500 jobs, according to the companies behind the project.
Proleisure project manager Jon Stemp announced the Cape Otway Road Australia (CORA) development on Wednesday morning.
“In my opinion, CORA will have the world’s media talking about this project in Victoria and set a new global benchmark for sport and wellbeing,” he said.
CORA would cater for nine of the 10 most popular sports in Australia, including playing fields for AFL and soccer, Mr Stemp said.
The development was “like nothing else anywhere in the world,” he said.
The four companies behind CORA expected the 240-hectare project to create more than 1000 construction jobs, and 500 direct jobs after completion.
The project would include accommodation for athletes and tourists, a retail village, a wave pool and an organic farm to provide produce for restaurants onsite, according to a joint statement.
The companies had been in discussion with the Surf Coast Shire and Victorian Government for the past 12 months, the statement said.
Ernst and Young was finalising a business case to deliver to the Victorian Government in the next few weeks.
The business case included environmental, cultural heritage, traffic and engineering reports.
The proponents of the project will launch community engagements this week to support a request for planning approval.
The preferred builder, Mulitplex, planned to begin construction in mid-2018, according to their joint statement.
This would allow them to showcase the facility in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the statement said.
Located to the south of Lake Modewarre, CORA will include 80 hectares of land set aside for native bush and wetlands, the companies said.
The facility would have low-rise buildings, resembling rural structures and complementing the surrounding Australian landscape, their statement said.
