Winx wins her fourth Cox Plate at The Valley (Image:Racing Photos)
The Valley’s $2 billion redevelopment is officially underway, with the first enablement works conducted on Tuesday.
The redevelopment plans were first unveiled in November 2017, and will implement a range of significant changes including the construction of a new grandstand moved from the original position, a re-oriented racetrack, as well as housing developments on site.
“We’ve been working on this project for ten years and to finally be putting a shovel in the dirt, it’s a landmark day for the club, a key milestone,” said Moonee Valley Racing Club CEO Michael Browell.
“We closed Gate 1 last Friday so that we can now commence the early engagement works for the redevelopment which will take place over the next ten to twelve years.
“The site is ready to commence construction on the townhouses, the first of which has already been sold.
“We’ll have seventy-one town homes that will front onto McPherson Street through the Members’ carpark, construction on those homes will start in October.”
Browell confirmed there will be a complete transformation of the racecourse facility to put it on a world-class level, but that means there will ultimately be effects on racegoers over the construction period.
“We return to racing on August 3, it’s a nice break that we’ve had, we’ve done a major renovation on the track to make sure it’s at its best through this spring carnival leading into the 100th Cox Plate next October.
“There will be impacts with the development works, closing Gate 1 and the Members’ carpark will move to the infield.
“So patrons coming to Moonee Valley now will certainly know that the track is beginning its transformation.
“But we’ll manage our way through it and make sure the impact on patrons and race goers is minimised as much as possible,” he said.
WATCH - MVRC CEO Michael Browell on the start of the club's $2 billion redevelopment