The Melbourne based property development Grollo family, owners of Mt Buller, has acquired Hotham Airport from Vail Resorts for $6.5 million.
The plan is to develop a staff accommodation village for those working at both Hotham and Dinner Plain. This will, in turn, free up on-mountain beds for guests currently occupied by staff every winter.
The actual airport and runway cost $17.5 million to build in 1999 and takes up 40 hectares of the 105 hectare site, leaving plenty of land for development. Should the Grollo Group’s alpine development arm choose to extend the 1460 metre runway to accommodate larger aircraft, then there is an additional 300 metres available.
Qantaslink has erratically offered direct flights to Hotham over the years, mainly from Sydney, in Dash-8 aircraft and the airport has also been used for private charters. Former owner of Hotham, Gold Coast millionaire Brian Ray, died in a private plane crash at the airport after pressuring his pilot to fly in unsafe conditions.
The location has also been used for Australian military parachute training as well as bush fire management with two dams on the property.
The Grollo Group has also invested $100million in recent Mt Buller developments including the Kooroora hotel and apartments.
Housing for staff in ski resorts is a huge problem with major issues in availability, price and quality.
The airport purchase could go a long way in addressing the problem. However it will be at least 18 months to two years before breaking ground as the planning and development approval process begins.
