The state government has provided the missing link in a project to build 175 social, affordable and key worker apartments at Wangaratta's former Ovens College site.
State Treasurer Jaclyn Symes visited the Greta Road site on Friday to announce funding for 34 new apartments for key worker housing under the $150 million round two of the Victorian Government’s Regional Worker Accommodation Fund.
Nestd Development acquired the site off Rural City of Wangaratta Council and demolition works of the old college have commenced.
Northeast Health Wangaratta (NHW) will be a frontrunning organisation that will access the worker accommodation by leasing several of the 34 units or 51 beds.
The key worker apartments will range from 1-2 storeys and 1-2 bedrooms, all 7-star in energy efficiency and they're expected to be built within the next 12 months.
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Ms Symes or Nestd would not disclose how much of the $150 million will be spent on the 34 Wangaratta apartments and they cited commercial-in-confidence as the reason.
Nestd executive director Greg Muller would also not disclose how much would be granted by the federal government, however, Indi MP Helen Haines has been working to secure $10 million over recent years.
Mr Muller said it was an opportunity to build homes, but it's a difficult landscape in regional towns in terms of making it work financially.
“Government subsidy and grant is core to achieving that outcome, and we're very proud to be able to deliver that for the state and also for the region of Wangaratta,” he said.
“We speak to employers all the time and their biggest challenge in order to growing their business is finding workers to come to the region and attracting them to the region.
“We see our responsibility at Nestd as building mixed use precincts that provide a large volume of housing at scale but also affordably.”
It’s expected for construction to start in the first half of 2026 and the apartments will be completed by July next year.
Nestd executive director Alan Takle said sustainability was a large part of the project and the buildings will have solar arrays and battery storage, aiming for a net zero operational target.
“This will reduce the cost of energy to the residents and the actual buildings themselves are 7-stars and we’re designing them to be a green star community,” he said.
“We’re designing them to meet the needs of workers and they will be fully furnished, they will be delivered through high quality modular construction which also aids and expedites the development of the site, enabling us to meet the timeframes from government.”
Council put out an EOI requesting submissions in 2022 from groups to develop the land and Nestd was successful.
After meeting several planning requirements, Nestd acquired the land earlier this year.
City Mayor Irene Grant described the project as important for the city and one that council has been involved with for several years.
"We've had the site in council's possession since 2012 and we've wondered what could be done with the site," Cr Grant said.
"It was always a site that needed to have community benefit from it and I think with what Nestd have proposed to us, it has community benefit written all over it.
"I am absolutely in admiration of Alan and Greg from Nestd for their persistence and the fact they have kept at this because at one stage it looked like it might not go ahead."
A figure of $50 million has been touted in the past as the cost for the 175 apartments, with upwards of $10 million required from the federal government to allow the rest of the build, including social housing, to take place.
As part of the overall complex there will be 22 social housing units and Nestd will be given a municipal rates concession on these future-built dwellings.
Another nine apartments are being built on Dixon Street near the hospital to accommodate health workers at Northeast Health Wangaratta.
"What we recognised in Wangaratta and this region is that we have a wonderful hospital, it's a great place to work, but it's really hard to attract people to come and work in that faciality when the housing options are either not there or they're substandard," Ms Symes said.
"These plans will offer beautiful housing for people and remove those barriers."