New development rises from restaurant ashes

A MIXED-USE development including a supermarket and waterfront apartments would be built at the site of a former Apollo Bay restaurant that burned in a late-night fire, new plans reveal.

Developers have lodged plans with the Colac Otway Shire to build three retail premises and five residences at the Great Ocean Road site.

An IGA supermarket would be the anchor tenant, including an adjoining bottleshop, with two smaller shops also proposed.

The residential component would include three apartments that are four bedrooms across two storeys that face the Great Ocean Road and Apollo Bay foreshore, and homes of two and three bedrooms towards Pascoe Street.

Five public toilets would also be included in the new building, and the site would have pedestrian links from Pascos Street and the Great Ocean Road aimed at improving access between the streets.

A fire in April 2021 started at a Chinese restaurant at the site, destroying it and the neighbouring Bluebird Café.

The site has remained vacant since then, which the application stated had limited the town’s economic potential and negatively affecd its visual appeal.

Planning documents argued the proposal would make “a positive contribution to this site and the local area” and aligned with the shire’s planning policies for the waterfront site.

“The proposal is significant for the centre of Apollo Bay, with benefits including the provision of an enhanced supermarket, the provision of high-quality public toilets, the addition of two retail units to animate a public car park and Pascoe Street and the provision of five dwellings.”

Colac Otway Shire is advertising the plans and inviting public comment on its website until Monday, August 7.