The development – a joint partnership between Country Club, Macafee Investments and the Barwon Heads Lifestyle Group – would see 270 houses, a 110-unit retirement village, an aged care facility, medical centre and a second sports oval and pavilion built on 49.5ha in the town which is on the Bellarine Peninsula near Geelong.
An independent panel is current considering raising the current three-storey height restriction to 11 metres, which would allow for the development being spearheaded by landowner Richard Macafee and Country Club director Stewart Gull.
Mr Gull told the Geelong Advertiser that residents had to accept change was inevitable.
“There will be high rises all over Barwon Heads, so the perception that the town is never going to change is history,” he said.
“So (our project) gives people the option – you either go up or you go out slightly.”
Based in Ballarat, Country Club Villages has eight retirement villages with around 1,500 units and a development pipeline valued at $500 million.
