Marina To Bring More Boats To The Quiet Sands Of Safety Beach
The Age
Wednesday January 11, 1995
THE broad expanse of Safety Beach's foreshore fans out below the coastal hills of Mt Martha. The clean and protected swimming beach is overlooked by a long row of cottages and newer, brick, two-storey houses that line Marine Drive.
At present a quiet part of Dromana Bay, Safety Beach is likely to have more boating activity with a proposed marina development that is planned to extend inland to form several harbors. Mr Michael Mangan of Bennetts Real Estate says the project should boost property values in the area as well the amount of sailing traffic.
Safety Beach has a good range of holiday houses available this summer, situated opposite the beach or further up in the hills, and at affordable prices.
Mr Mangan's office (059 87 2000) has a number of properties that have sought-after bay views or are a short walk from the beach. The four described below range in price from $70,000 to the low $200,000s.
Two are tucked away in the hilly area bordering Mt Martha and have panoramic outlooks. Set in a secluded bushy allotment at 199 Marine Drive is a two-storey concrete brick house built in the 1960s that has views across Safety Beach to Arthurs Seat.
Although some of the bamboo-patterned wallpapers, shag-pile carpets and timber veneer finishes date from the '60s or '70s, the house is comfortable and well-maintained. Designed for casual indoor and outdoor entertaining, it has a colorfully paved patio with a barbecue at the front.
The main living areas of the house are on the second level and open on to a broad veranda and deck that span the front and overlook Safety Beach. The living and dining room are divided by a central open fireplace and a kitchen with decorative mosaic tiles is recessed to one side.
While there are three bedrooms upstairs together with a bathroom and separate lavatory, a fourth bedroom and another combined laundry- bathroom open from the ground floor entry. The patio has access to a big games room lined in seagrass matting and with a wall of tall windows overlooking the leafy garden.
Similiar in design and outlook, but at half the price, is another two-storey house nearby at 91 Grandview Terrace. Situated further back from the bay, the house still has a good view across the beach, the fields beyond and the shapely coastline.
Built in the mid-1970s as a holiday house, it has not been used much in recent years. Grass has grown tall in the back garden and the interior shows both wear and a lack of maintenance. But the white- painted Hardiplank exterior seems in good order and the interior probably needs only cosmetic refurbishment.
A steep but short drive leads to a parking bay below the house and sleeper steps run up through the overgrown garden to a deck at the rear. Entry is into an open-plan living, dining and kitchen area. Tall windows and glass doors open on to a veranda spanning the front and look out across the treed landscape as well as the sea.
Cork tiles line the kitchen and meals area, while the other rooms have floors of stained pine. A hall leads to three bedrooms, two opening on to the veranda, and a bathroom. Below the house is a lined workshop and storage area.
Situated directly opposite Safety Beach at 175 Marine Drive is a 1940s-style fibro cement and weatherboard cottage. It overlooks the beach and bay from ground level as this part of the foreshore is nearly treeless, fronted by gravel parking bays.
The block is 64 metres deep and Michael Mangan suggests it would make a good site for a dual-occupancy development. The back garden is all lawn, shaded by a couple of trees, and has several outbuildings.
The house is partially renovated and has a new orange, Colorbond roof and a lattice pergola-carport at the rear. Entry is straight into a living room with sash windows overlooking the neat, shrubless, front lawn. This room and the three bedrooms have unpolished hardwood floors.
A small kitchen adjoining the living room looks quite cheery with red cupboards and marble-look ceramic tiled benches and striped blinds. There is a combined bathroom and laundry and an outside lavatory.
Set back from the beach is an unrenovated fibro cement cottage at 8 Prescott Avenue. To be sold at an executor's auction, the house is expected to bring in the low $70,000s. Some recent additions have been made, including a new hot water system and plumbing as well as concrete stumps.
The house has attractive, polished hardwood floors throughout and high ceilings, including the three bedrooms. It even has a small foyer that leads to the main rooms. A large living room has a bright blue and yellow kitchenette at one side and a door leading into the garden.
199 Marine Drive, Safety Beach. Cement; six rooms; land: 20 by 47 metres. Auction: 1pm Sunday 15 January by Bennetts (059 87 2000).
Price: between $220,000 and $250,000.
91 Grandview Terrace, Safety Beach. Hardiplank; five rooms; land: 15 by 76 metres. Auction: 3pm Sunday 15 January also by Bennetts (059 87 2000). Price: $95,000-plus.
175 Marine Drive, Safety Beach. Weatherboard and fibro-cement; five rooms; land: 15 by 64 metres. For private sale by Bennetts (059 87 2000). Price: $155,000.
8 Prescott Avenue, Safety Beach. Fibro cement; five rooms; land: 15 by 38 metres. Auction: 1pm Saturday 21 January by Bennetts (059 87 2000). Price: low-$70,000s.
© 1995 The Age