Mentone Hotel plans show 70 apartments planned for the Edgy site

Plans for the building — known as the Edgy — have ­officially been lodged with Kingston Council, and will be opened for public comment in coming months.

New owner and developer Paul Huggins’ submitted plans show five ­apartments on the ground floor and seven on the first floor.

While heritage overlays protecting the building’s ­facade and the internal staircase have been adhered to, the proposal for apartments on the ground floor mean the former pub area has been reduced from about 800sq m to a 240sq m “restaurant/cafe”.

Fifty-eight apartments will be built at the rear on the existing carpark.

Apartment sizes range from 57sq m to 245sq m, ­including balcony or private open space areas.

Underground carparking will provide 135 spaces for residents, visitors, and restaurant patrons.

Mr Huggins said finding a tenant to run a large pub space was a “pipedream”.

“Eight hundred square metres is a massive operation,” he said.

Mr Huggins said he would “run a campaign” to find someone to run “a food and beverage offering” for the downstairs level.

“If we get someone, we’re going to cut the downstairs apartments out of the plan,” he said.

Save the Edgy committee spokesman Chris Hill said he would view the plans this week, but said a small dining space and apartments on the ground level was “the worst case scenario”.

“We want as much as possible of the existing building to be preserved,” he said.

Source: Mordialloc Chelsea Leader, Therese Allaoui, July 8^th 2015