Ferntree Gully community centre chasing $5.4m-plus as developers circle

A Ferntree Gully development site looks set to snare a record price when it goes to auction on October 12.

The 1.69ha block at 977-987 Burwood Highway is on three titles and comes with $5.4-$5.94 million price hopes.

Its prime location has attracted plenty of interest from developers and operators of aged-care and childcare facilities.

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“There is nothing similar on the market, and the landmark site will attract developers and other buyers,” Ray White Ferntree Gully director Ben Thomas says.

The site has been home to a community centre for many years.

The large site was listed but unsold with another agency for four months earlier this year.

The asking price for during that private sale campaign was around $7 million.

The top sale for a similar block in the suburb is $2.937 million for 811 Burwood Highway, an aged-care complex on 1.06ha.

It has multiple frontages, including to the highway.

In 2013, a 1.33ha development site at 95 Blackwood Park fetched $2.85 million.

The Burwood Highway property currently houses Knoxbrooke Community Centre, which offers services for adults with a disability.

The centre is closing in November and the new owners can develop up to 15 townhouses on the site, according to listing agent Jimmy Shan.

It has several buildings and landscaped gardens.

“Some buyers might want to retain the buildings and operate aged-care or childcare facilities,” he says.

The property is also a former school site; it’s got two street frontages and features educational and administration buildings, off-street parking and landscaped gardens.

It has a sought-after position within walking distance to shops and public transport, with easy access to schools and shopping centres.

This article from Leader Newspapers originally appeared as “Burwood Highway site could raise Ferntree Gully record by $2m”.