Chinese-backed developer Hengyi plans to redevelop the historic 3.41 ha site it acquired from Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services last year for $17 million.

Hengyi has proposed 105 homes for the site, in eight new buildings. As part of the build, original heritage-listed mansion and buildings constructed in 1878 will be restored.

The site, approximately an hour south of Melbourne, has been home to a local hospital, an aged care facility and a Children’s Hospital’s polio ward in its 100-year history.

Lovell Chen has been hired to oversee works, and the new design will be handled by Tract.

A gym, library, cinema, restaurant, bar, indoor heated pool and spa will be completed as part of the build, and the 200-metre waterfront to Canadian Bay will be open to the public.

When they acquired the site, Hengyi General Manager Simon Manley said the developer was “looking forward to transforming the unused parcel into something special”.