National park lease approved – 100-room hotel
The Victorian government has approved a lease for a new luxury hot springs resort in the Point Nepean National Park in its final days before it entered caretaker mode before the upcoming state elections.
The 50-year agreement with Point Leisure Group, headed by developer Richard Schelmerdine, covers 64ha of national park, including the site of an old quarantine station made up of more than 50 buildings overlooking the Mornington Peninsula coastline. The lease begins in July 2017.
Point Leisure Group intends to turn the site into a wellness retreat comprising hot springs, a spa, a restaurant, a 108-room hotel, a conference centre and a “wellbeing centre.
A state government spokesman said all rent received from the site would be reinvested back into national parks.
As part of the lease conditions, the developer has also signed an agreement with the University of Melbourne for education facilities on the site, which has attracted $2 million in extra funding from the government.
