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CEMETERY BUYS

Posted on 21 June 2014

Operators of the Springvale Botanical Cemetery have quietly snared a major industrial facility abutting the western edge of the 169-hectare facility.

The Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust is believed to be paying about $9.5 million for the 1.8-hectare property known as 23 Smith Road, on the corner of McWilliam Street and at the eastern edge of an industrial estate.

For seven years until last September the Springvale factory was leased to global luggage manufacturer Samsonite, which has since relocated to Mulgrave.

The block next door to the Springvale factory is fenced off - a cemetery sign-saying the land is earmarked for burials, memorials and other cemetery purposes.

However, it is not expected the ex-Samsonite block will make way for plots. The 12,877 square metre buildings on the site, being in good condition, instead make it suitable to commercial use and storage. A cemetery spokesman was unavailable when contacted.

Vinci Carbone directors Joseph Carbone and Frank Vinci, for years the Smith Road building's manager, negotiated the off- market sale but declined to comment when contacted.