Club Coridale to be centrepoint of new Lara estate

Geelong’s Spence Constructions has been appointed builder of developer Villawood Properties’ new $7.6 million Club Coridale at Lara.

Designed by ClarkeHopkinsClarke, the resort-style café, swimming pool, gym, sport courts, family and function areas and more will make it the social and recreational hub of the rapidly growing community.

Across the Victorian economy, the club’s 12-month construction could generate around 70 direct and indirect jobs in construction and other industries.

The construction of the club is also forecast to inject around $9 million into the economy (including both direct and indirect impacts).

The broader end-to-end 1,100-home Coridale project could inject more than $360 million into the economy while generating more than 2,700 direct and indirect jobs over the anticipated seven-year development.

Villawood Properties executive director Rory Costelloe said the new club offered greater amenity and capital growth for Coridale buyers, as evidenced already at the developer’s Armstrong Mount Duneed estate south of Geelong, also built by Spence, and opened in 2016.

“Lara’s got some great infrastructure and, in the past, has developed some communities with lots of water features and other amenity,” Mr Costelloe said.

“But Club Coridale will really lift standards in Lara to a whole new level.

“Our Club Armstrong truly established Mount Duneed as the go-to suburb of the growth areas south of Geelong.”

The majority of estate releases over the past 10 years have either been camp-outs or immediate sell-outs, proving it’s the most popular location.

Mr Costelloe said Armstrong Mount Duneed was the first suburb in the growth corridors to achieve house resales of more than $1 million, proving there were superior capital growth gains within the estate.

“Similarly, Club Coridale will set the pace in allowing our new families to meet each other, enjoy the facilities and form new friendship groups and common interest groups.

“It’s pleasing to hear stories of residents loving making new friends in new playgroups and swimming, walking, yoga and cycling groups within our clubs.”

Spence Construction director Glenn McVilly said the resort club was “quite a major project” for the Geelong region

“We’ve got 25 separate sub-contracting companies in the project plus us as head contractor,” he said.

“There’s probably going to be 75 to 100 ongoing jobs on site.

“There’s admin staff for each contract company… so the figure could be 125 to 150.

“Then there are direct supply chains as well, so it’s quite a major project for the region, absolutely.”

Mr McVilly said Spence’s involvement in Villawood’s Club Armstrong had been “fantastic”.

ClarkeHopkinsClarke senior associate Daniel Taranto said the architects were looking forward to seeing the club plans come to fruition over the coming months.

“We want to create places people love to visit with friends and family, spend time in and feel like they belong,” Mr Taranto said.

“Our approach to architecture and design is to first understand the physical, social and cultural context of a site and look at ways to advance connections and opportunity.

“At Villawood Club Coridale we explored scale, form and a mix of uses to create a destinational amenity that would benefit local residents and support active and healthy lifestyles.”