Sales open for boutique Apollo Bay apartment

AN OFF-the-plan sale for a high-end Apollo Bay apartment in the heart of town is sign of how the seaside location is changing, according to the managing estate agent.

The proposed two-storey apartment on the corner of Pascoe and Moore streets a block back from the Great Ocean Road is one of two planned for the site, in airspace above existing retail shops.

Once complete, the apartments will boast ocean views, four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two car spaces, with overflow parking.

Managed by First National Real Estate in Golden Plains, the apartment comes with an asking price of between $1,55,000 and $1,700,000 for the 654sqm property. Managing agent Owen Sharkey said there had been general inquiries about the property over the last month “but haven’t set the world on fire, as no property has over this Christmas break”.

“But there’s been a bit of traction.”

A serving councillor and former mayor of the Golden Plains Shire, Mr Sharkey is managing the sale for his brother Eugene Sharkey, whose Geelong Building Co. is behind the development.

“I got the planning permit from council yesterday,” Eugene Sharkey said on Tuesday (January 17).

“If it doesn’t sell, I’m not fussed, I’m just sort of testing the market… I’m happy to put it on Airbnb, or something similar, I’m sure I won’t have a problem renting it out.”

The Geelong-based builder will take the first apartment and aims to have both finished by the end of 2023 so he can spend the next summer there.

Concept photos and floor plans show the apartments will have two bedrooms on the first level, where private resident parking will also occur, along with individual balconies for each home.

The second floor will house a master bedroom, fourth bedroom, kitchen and dining/living areas, and rooftop balconies along two sides of each apartment.

“The reason why I got it was it already had a planning permit on it ten years ago, so I knew it was possible,” Eugene Sharkey said.

The development is taking place in the existing business area that has a maximum height limit of 10.5m.

“It’s above a carpark, I like it, you’re not going to have to get someone to cut your lawns, and I’ve tried to make the balconies as big as I can.”

Owen Sharey said the project was a sign of the development shift under way in the town.

“If this was built five years ago it wouldn’t be at this level… it would be aimed at a different price point, but here we are now and prices have gone up 40-50 per cent since COVID.

“It’s one that raises a few eyebrows in Apollo Bay, I suppose Apollo Bay is going through a transitional change over the coming years.”