Ten Box Hill properties will be acquired and demolished for Suburban Rail Loop construction under a land acquisition plan now out for public consultation.
For Whitehorse Road business owner Yinwei Yu, he sympathises with the owners of properties on the chopping block, with works now set to force his vitamin and baby formula store to move to a third location – the second move in the past six years.
What’s happening? The Suburban Rail Loop Authority (SRLA) is proposing changes to the land it would need as part of the construction of the new underground Box Hill station, including the acquisition and demolition of 10 properties.
The plans include cutting back on the land needed within the Box Hill Gardens from about 25 percent to about 10 percent.
According to the SRLA, the impacted land will be restored and landscaping and trees reinstated following the construction phase of the project.
Public consultation closes at 11:59pm on Friday September 18.
Business impacts: About two years ago, the SRLA reached out to Yinwei Yu, the owner of Whitehorse Road vitamin and baby formula store Yiping Australia, saying it would be acquiring the property for its use.
About two weeks after moving his business to another location on Whitehorse Road, the SRLA contacted him to inform him they would soon acquire the new location as well.
Yu said his income had dropped by about 40 percent over the past year and predicted he would move the business to a new location by the end of the year, as he couldn’t continue to support his wife and one child.
🗣️ “It’s been a very big impact to my business,” he told the Eastern Melburnian. “All the profit in my business is to raise my family. When I lose money, it’s very hard to live.”
A place of worship: The former location of St Paul’s Lutheran Church Box Hill – at 709-713 Station Street – is also proposed for acquisition and demolition.
David Pietsch, the former chairman of the church’s strategic property group, said the congregation sold the church in 2018 and had moved out of the property as of March this year and is now based on Riversdale Road in Box Hill South.
“We're well and truly reconciled to the fact that when we sold it, it would be demolished and redeveloped,” he told the Eastern Melburnian.
Moving on: Other properties within the proposed plans include the Sessions bottle shop on the corner of Whitehorse Road and Station Street, a campus of Top Scope College on Station Street and houses on Station Street, Irving Avenue and Bruce Street.
The Eastern Melburnian attempted to speak with all owners of the properties planned for acquisition and demolition.