Amazing Mill Market team wants to demolish everything cramping Bendigo building’s style | Bendigo Advertiser

news, local-news, charleston Road, charleston street, bendigo east, east bendigo, ridleys, barastoc, heritage

DEVELOPERS want to demolish Charleston Road silos to make way for Bendigo’s future Amazing Mill Market. They have shared their latest draft masterplan for the dormant factory site with the City of Greater Bendigo as they work through a planning process. Council planners are only being asked to consider demolition plans at this stage, but developers shared draft plans with them to give further context. The documents give new insight into the big changes developers have in mind for the former factory at 87 Charleston Road, and the historic 1912 mill building they want to showcase. More news: New IGA store to move into Strath Village That includes dismantling silos and a multi-storey processing plant that tower above the mill building. Warehouses, office buildings, a weighbridge and a “dilapidated” truck wash bay are among the structures earmarked for removal. “[They] have been subjected to vandalism, break-ins and theft. If left standing, the buildings and structures are a hazard to any who enters the site,” developers have told council staff. The changes would give them a “clean slate” for a major renovation and slew of new buildings on the site, including a new Amazing Mill Market similar to those in Daylesford, Ballarat and Geelong. The Mark Ward Property Group – which owns the Amazing Mill Markets – bought the Charleston Road site last year in a move seen as a major tourism coup for Bendigo. Daylesford’s Mill Market brings in more than 1000 visitors every day. Bendigo’s Amazing Mill Market would likely sit in a new building near Charleston Road, according to the draft masterplan. That area of the site currently houses some 1970s-era office buildings. A new flour-mill wing mimicking the shape of original 1912 warehouses would replace the processing plant. The complete five-storey building could be used for a range of businesses including hospitality, short-term accommodation and even a dedication to the site’s history, developers said. More news: Greater Bendigo records 212 COVID-19 cases A new two to three-storey building would rise to the south of the site. It could include space for several food and retail venues, as well as high-tech office space. Developers’ plans would mark a significant shift to tourism and retail at the traditionally industrial site. That would likely suit the council well. It has previously said it hoped to steer the wider area towards tourism, retail and residential uses. More news: Economic uncertainty looms as draft Bendigo budget forms Much of the land stretching from East Bendigo out towards White Hills was given over to industry in Bendigo’s early days but has gradually lost those links. Charleston Road’s industrial precinct is today dominated by warehouses and commercial businesses, not the heavy industry of the past, a recent council development strategy noted. It stated any lost opportunities for factories in Charleston Road could be offset with a new industrial park. The council wants that business park to rise in Marong, and recently bought a huge tract of farm land it hopes to transform in a way that could help the city avert a looming land shortage, assuming it gains support from other levels of government. More news: Bendigo ripe for big election promises, but will we get them? Jesse Tomlins opened the mill in 1912 along with business partners John Simmie and George Simmie, according to a site history compiled by the developers’ historians. The cutting edge mill was the first in the district to fully rely on electricity. It began selling both locally and internationally within its first year. By 1958, workers were manufacturing chicken feed and dog de-worming pellets at the site, the historians said. Another company processed dog food there in the decade that followed. Other companies later used the factory to produce stock feed. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Tom.OCallaghan/bb6ef97f-d10b-4e7a-8e71-8fa7261e38ba.jpg/r0_34_4010_2300_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

DEVELOPERS want to demolish Charleston Road silos to make way for Bendigo’s future Amazing Mill Market.

They have shared their latest draft masterplan for the dormant factory site with the City of Greater Bendigo as they work through a planning process.

Council planners are only being asked to consider demolition plans at this stage, but developers shared draft plans with them to give further context.

The documents give new insight into the big changes developers have in mind for the former factory at 87 Charleston Road, and the historic 1912 mill building they want to showcase.

That includes dismantling silos and a multi-storey processing plant that tower above the mill building.

Warehouses, office buildings, a weighbridge and a “dilapidated” truck wash bay are among the structures earmarked for removal.

“[They] have been subjected to vandalism, break-ins and theft. If left standing, the buildings and structures are a hazard to any who enters the site,” developers have told council staff.

The changes would give them a “clean slate” for a major renovation and slew of new buildings on the site, including a new Amazing Mill Market similar to those in Daylesford, Ballarat and Geelong.

A picture of the site in Charleston Road, East Bendigo, before it became a dormant factory.

Daylesford’s Mill Market brings in more than 1000 visitors every day.

Bendigo’s Amazing Mill Market would likely sit in a new building near Charleston Road, according to the draft masterplan.

That area of the site currently houses some 1970s-era office buildings.

A new flour-mill wing mimicking the shape of original 1912 warehouses would replace the processing plant.

The complete five-storey building could be used for a range of businesses including hospitality, short-term accommodation and even a dedication to the site’s history, developers said.

A new two to three-storey building would rise to the south of the site.

It could include space for several food and retail venues, as well as high-tech office space.

Developers’ plans would mark a significant shift to tourism and retail at the traditionally industrial site.

That would likely suit the council well.

It has previously said it hoped to steer the wider area towards tourism, retail and residential uses.

Much of the land stretching from East Bendigo out towards White Hills was given over to industry in Bendigo’s early days but has gradually lost those links.

Charleston Road’s industrial precinct is today dominated by warehouses and commercial businesses, not the heavy industry of the past, a recent council development strategy noted.

It stated any lost opportunities for factories in Charleston Road could be offset with a new industrial park.

The council wants that business park to rise in Marong, and recently bought a huge tract of farm land it hopes to transform in a way that could help the city avert a looming land shortage, assuming it gains support from other levels of government.

Jesse Tomlins opened the mill in 1912 along with business partners John Simmie and George Simmie, according to a site history compiled by the developers’ historians.

The cutting edge mill was the first in the district to fully rely on electricity. It began selling both locally and internationally within its first year.

By 1958, workers were manufacturing chicken feed and dog de-worming pellets at the site, the historians said.

Another company processed dog food there in the decade that followed.

Other companies later used the factory to produce stock feed.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: