More than 500 new jobs will be created in South Morang once a new commercial development is completed within the next five years.

Construction is due to start next month at a 63,000-square-metre site next to the South Morang rail line and Masters home improvements store.

Gibson Property Corporation, which is behind residential and commercial development Masons Point in nearby Oleander Drive, and McMillan Property Group are building a new retail, commercial and industrial development at the vacant site.

Gibson’s director Charles Gibson said Five Thirty, as the development has been named, will become a major employment hub.

“It’s close to the airport, freeways, the South Morang train station, Bunnings, Masters and Westfield and will offer the local community hundreds of new jobs,” he said.

The site was purchased in March last year for $11.5 million. Mr Gibson said four lots, covering some 21,000 square metres, had already been sold. Two of them were purchased by major car dealerships. Although he couldn’t reveal their names, the dealerships would bring 12 new full-time jobs to South Morang.

Construction will begin on showrooms early next year and the entire development is due to be completed within three to five years. The site is within the South Morang “activity centre,” which Whittlesea council has earmarked for new development because of its proximity to housing, freeways, public transport, parks, shops, restaurants and service centres.

In the state government’s Melbourne 2030 blueprint for future growth, development is encouraged within these areas to reduce the need for people to travel by car.