FOREST Street will become home to two new developments, with Nightingale Housing advancing its plans for Bendigo.
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The housing initiative this week reached settlement on 32 Forest Street.
The block is next door to the former All Saints church, where developer Scott Jackman intends to create a number of dwellings.
"We were very excited when we were able to put in an offer for this property," Nightingale Bendigo joint licensee Caroline Farmer said.
She believed there was a lot of compatibility between what Nightingale Bendigo was proposing and Mr Jackman's development.
"The potential now for that part of Bendigo is great. We think we will be able to create a really fabulous precinct there," Ms Farmer said.
The site itself was also the subject of great excitement.
"There are so many options with that site and the existing building," Ms Farmer said.
Nightingale Bendigo intends to construct a community-oriented, sustainable apartment building.
It is not yet known what that building might look like or how many people it will likely house.
Designs have yet to be developed and registrations of interest are still open to prospective buyers.
But Ms Farmer said there were a number of principles guiding Nightingale Housing developments.
"It's about creating a community of neighbours," she said.
"For Nightingale, we only sell to people who are going to live in the properties, owner-occupiers only. That creates much greater potential for that community to develop."
Nightingale Housing buildings are also designed to be highly sustainable, with low ongoing running costs.
"What we're really offering is an alternative kind of housing, which we believe there's a market for in Bendigo," Ms Farmer said.
Nightingale Housing was established in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs.
But Ms Farmer said those involved were aware Bendigo was a very different kind of city to inner city Melbourne.
"Our focus is very much on what should it look like in Bendigo, what are people looking for and what will work best," she said.
The project has been in the works for about 18 months.
"We'll certainly be keeping people informed along the way of the process for registering interest and the process as we start to develop the designs for allocating properties to interested people," Ms Farmer said.
She said people could visit nightingalehousing.org/nightingale-bendigo for more information or to register.
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Emma D'Agostino
Covering general news and Bendigo council.
Covering general news and Bendigo council.
