The historic members’ stand at Flemington Racecourse, a witness to 88 cantering Melbourne Cup winners and the joy and sorrow of thousands of well-dressed racegoers, will be demolished to make way for a larger stadium under soon-to-be-finalised plans.
Spectators in the grandstand saw Phar Lap’s late arrival at the 1930 Melbourne Cup and decades later disapproving matrons sat on its seats watching the 1965 Derby Day fashion scandal unfold over English model Jean Shrimpton’s risque miniskirt.
Each year hundreds of horse trainers, punters and socialites crowd the austere concrete, wood and steel structure and cheer horses running in Melbourne’s spring racing carnival, enjoying uninterrupted views as the winners sprint across the finish line.
But the Victorian Racing Club has well-advanced plans to demolish the heritage-listed building, constructed in 1924.
”Post the 2015 carnival we will demolish the old grandstand … subject to heritage approvals. We will be making applications shortly to state and federal heritage authorities for permission,” VRC chief executive David Courtney said.
Architects Bates Smart will design a new members’ stand about one third larger than the existing structure, with fine-dining restaurants, champagne bars, hospitality, catering and extra seating.
”Our intention is to … replace it with something that will be an absolutely world-class facility,” Mr Courtney said.
The new grandstand will take a year to build and open in 2017. It will largely be financed through the sale of two portions of land on the eastern and western edges of the racecourse to China’s largest state-owned property developer, the Greenland Group.
Four-time Melbourne Cup winner businessman Lloyd Williams said he felt a ”nostalgia” for the course’s old buildings but it was ”probably time to move on”.
”As an old gambler, I bet my bottom dollar there’s serious structural problems with it,” Mr Williams said.
All of the racecourse’s tracks, gardens, statues and buildings are listed on Victoria’s Heritage Register. The track was ”historically significant as the oldest racecourse in Victoria, which has operated continuously since 1840 … [and] been the site of the running of the Melbourne Cup since its inception in 1861,” the register states.
”They [the VRC] would need to apply for a permit which would be assessed,” a Heritage Victoria spokeswoman said.
Greenland’s development plans are yet to be finalised.
Hundreds of apartments are expected to be built in several towers but Mr Courtney denied they would overshadow Australia’s most famous horse race.
Final contracts of sale will be signed in four months after the VRC had vetted and approved Greenland’s proposal.
Shanghai-based Greenland Group unveiled plans earlier this year to develop Sydney’s tallest residential tower. The $600 million building was Greenland’s first foray into Australia but as one of China’s largest state-owned enterprises it has built high-rise residential projects in 71 cities.
Melbourne has seen an unprecedented level of offshore investment, with overseas buyers snapping up 97 per cent of city development sites in the past two years.
