A warehouse owner in Victoria has made almost $15 million in profit after the state government bought the property to build a school playground.
The government had to pay $19 million for vacant land in a capital city zone for the Fishermans Bend school playground site, Planning Minister Richard Wynne says.
The former owner of the soccer pitch-sized warehouse bought it for $4.4 million in 2008.
Mr Wynne has blamed the former state government for rezoning the area without buying up the necessary space for public land, parks and buildings beforehand.
"All the things that you'd expect to have in a precinct like this, we're going to have to buy at full market value," Mr Wynne told reporters on Wednesday.
It's expected 80,000 people will live in Fishermans bend over the next 20 years.
The vertically-designed yet-to-be-built school originally planned to have the playground on top of the building.
"Imagine a young preppy, a young five-year-old, playing on top of a school, it's a pretty extraordinary situation," Mr Wynne said.
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