Plans for a multi-storey building on the site of the former Sale police station overlooking Lake Guthridge are taking shape as council attempts to buy the property from the state government.
The proposal includes accommodation with restaurants below, which council says will provide a boost to the precinct.
The project has been put forward by well-known multinational developer Ibis Enterprises, it’s director Dodge Bird saying the jewel in the building’s crown will be a casino taking up the top two floors.
“The casino area will have an adjacent childcare area – a boon for parents enjoying a little flutter,” Mr Bird said.
“We will honour the heritage of the site by naming areas within Bin Chicken Tower.
“For instance, the gambling area will be called Copshop Casino, the childcare Ibis Chicks and the restaurant Bistro Koi.”
Welliboots Shire Council chief finance officer Owen Money said Gina, Clive and Donald had all expressed interested in the site, but Ibis swooped in first with its ground-breaking plan for the 10-storey building.
“This project will be a game-changer for Sale and Gippsland in general,” he enthused in council-speak while unveiling an artist’s impression of the building to sticky-beak journalists.
“Residents, restaurateurs and gamblers will all have breathtaking views of the iconic Bin Chicken Island and its sculpture-like tree sticks.”
Mr Money said since the oil platform in Lake Guthridge had been decommissioned to make way for the bin chicken sanctuary on the island the lake precinct had languished, and carp fishing had been among the few joys residents could partake of in the area.
“This will breathe new life into Lake Guthridge,” he said.
“The twinkling of the casino lights over the water at night will be something to behold.”
Council environment officer Daisy Moss said the loved ibis had been “top of mind” during the building’s design phase and a breeding and nesting rooftop area would be included, along with trees for the birds to strip bare to keep them entertained.
“More bins will be strategically placed around the lake as well, to allow the birds to forage naturally.”
But local resident Mona Wyner said her feathers were ruffled when she heard about the project earlier this week at her podiatrist’s while getting her bunions looked at.
“The oil platform brought swarms of tourists,” she said.
“I’m worried the serenity will again be destroyed for our beautiful bin chickens.
“Where have the swans gone? We used to be called Swan City.”
But despite her opposition to Bin Chicken Tower, Ms Wyner did concede she may visit if it introduces Friday night meat raffles.
She was also concerned about car parking, and when the Gippy Crimes questioned Mr Money about that, he shuffled some papers, scratched his left ear, mumbled something about “forgetting” and disappeared through a side door, saying he had to take an important phone call.
Former Gippy Crimes journalist and Gippsland federal pollie Dazza Chesty Bond said the whole issue was not a federal one, but he would comment anyway.
“I’m all for any project that Puts Locals First and Gets Things Done,” he said, mentioning there were still some calendars available from his office showing all the local areas he had put first.
Also a former Gippy Crimes journo, Gippy South state pollie Dan O’Brine said he had been tearing his hair out over the cop shop site for years and welcomed Bin Chicken Tower and the prestige it would bring.
“Now we need to turn our attention to the former Sale Specialist School site and the old Sale High School building/former ACES site,” he said.
“Perhaps some more nail salons and massage joints, or a pothole museum would be appropriate.”
The former police station site has a proud history of dealing with local crims.
Now-retired career criminal Cyril Larceny said he had fond memories of times in the police lock-up at the old police station in the 1970s and 1980s, adding he had been on first-name terms with most of the officers and was a regular.
“We both had jobs to do, and the cops respected and understood that,” he said.
“The lock-up wasn’t so bad, especially after a few schooners at the Black Pub – no-one could ever remember that pub’s name,” he mused.
Baton Copperfield, a former senior sergeant who was stationed in Sale, remembers Mr Larceny well, adding he was always compliant because he was always “three sheets to the wind”.
“But let’s just say we kept a pile of phone books out the back for the trouble-makers,” he said.
“Those were the good old days of law enforcement.”
The old police station site has sat abandoned since 2015 when the local constabulary moved to its new site – appropriately that of the former Sale Prison.
But on February 12, 2026, after collecting cobwebs, cigarette butts and vagrants for more than a decade, it went up in flames.
Welliboots Shire Council subsequently ordered the site be cleared because of “all the bad stuff there” and because the building was “looking pretty wonky”.
Now it appears a new chapter is set to begin with the enticing possibilities of Bin Chicken Tower.
This latest development follows numerous suggestions from the community, including the erection of a giant ibis to rival tourist attractions like the Big Pineapple and the Big Banana in Queensland, a carp fish market, and a trial turbine for planned local wind farms.
But the Bin Chicken Tower proposal is likely to draw the most intense interest yet.
Council is set to consider the proposal at tonight’s council meeting, April 1.
NOTE: Award-winning journalist Justine Kidding has returned from a well-earned retirement to pen this exclusive story. She has written exclusive articles for the Gippy Crimes in the past, including yarns about farmers forming a convoy to complete the Princes Highway duplication, the development of a new breed of cow producing flavoured milk, an ice rink for the Sale pool to better utilise the area in the winter months, a carp processing factory at the Swing Bridge, military personnel going through the motions testing mini submarines in the Port of Sale, a proposal to change the name of Sale because it is too difficult to Google, the placing of an oil platform in Lake Guthridge to attract tourists, the implementation of tolls on the Princes Highway Causeway between Wurruk and Sale to help fund roadworks, and plans for a brewery, distillery, accommodation and a restaurant in the Sion Convent building and surrounds.
Another note: Ms Kidding also recalls writing a true story in the 1980s for the Gippsland Times about a sheep captured and placed in the old Sale police station lock-up. The story was headlined “Sheep behind baas”.
