After three months the $300,000 makeover of Timor Street's historic buildings is almost complete, transforming the rundown precinct and bringing to an end a long-running saga.
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Harrington Property Group's Clayton Harrington, who has owned a building on the street for 20 years, said all the owners on the street had got on board with the project.
"It looks fantastic. It's made a huge difference," he said.
The high voltage powerlines had been a big issue for the street dating back more than a decade making it unsafe to carry out painting and repairs to crumbling historic facades.
The dilemma was brought to light when rule changed about how close tradesmen could be to high voltage powerlines to carry out work.
That rule change brought painting of The Whalers hotel to a halt, leaving the historic building half painted for years.
But with a deal brokered under the previous council, the Whalers - along with the rest of the street - has been restored to its former glory.
Mr Harrington said there had been a push some years ago to eliminate the high voltage powerlines in front of the buildings and put them underground but that proved to be too costly.
The city council revealed last year that putting the powerlines underground would have cost as much as $750,000.
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But Mr Harrington said there needed to be a long-term solution, with the building owners faced with being in the same situation next time buildings were in need of repairs.
He said the paintwork would only last 10 to 15 years and the council, Powercor and businesses would have to coordinate to do the same thing all over again.
The project was made possible after Warrnambool City Council negotiated a $60,000 deal with Powercor to install temporary switching infrastructure to isolate high voltage power so works could safely be carried out.
Mr Harrington said the council covered the cost of switching off the high voltage, but the owners of the properties paid for the painting and traffic management which he estimated would have cost as much as $300,000.
He said Timor Street had some of the most beautiful buildings in Warrnambool, but until now owners had been prevented from looking after them.
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