A sinkhole at Werribee’s newest carpark has been filled with dirt and will be landscaped in coming weeks.
The sinkhole, which developed in late April, knocked out six spaces in the $7.4 million Cherry Street carpark, which opened in August last year.
The carpark has a mix of spaces for the general public and business parking permit-holders.
A sign at the carpark last week attributes the sinkhole to “recent extraordinary rain events”. Wyndham council last week covered the sinkhole with mounds of dirt.
City operations director Stephen Thorpe said the area would be landscaped “as the cost will be considerably less than replacing the six carpark spaces” but the council did not disclose how much the landscaping would cost.
“The Cherry Street carpark has been built on the site of a former service station,” Mr Thorpe said.
“Recent heavy rain has caused a small section of the carpark to sink into the deep fill that replaced a fuel tank. It will not deteriorate in the same way that [other] sinkholes do.
“The Cherry Street carpark was always constructed as a temporary carpark and will be site of one of Wyndham City’s important development sites.”
Plans for the Cherry Street site include a $40 million commercial building spanning nine levels that will include several levels of carparking – including two basement levels – as well as office and retail spaces and a childcare centre in the upper levels.
The Cherry Street site is one of four council-owned ground-level carparks that will be converted to high-rise complexes with multi-level carparks, residential apartments and office and retail premises. The Burbank Group and Pelligra will spearhead the four projects.
“The marketing of commercial tenancy leases will be commencing in the coming months and the uptake will determine the timing of the project commencement,” Mr Thorpe said.
