The Greek community’s proposal to build a 13 storey Hellenic cultural centre in Melbourne’s CBD has been given the green light, following Sunday’s extraordinary general meeting.

74.2 percent of members present at the meeting voted in favour of the project, which needed 66 percent of votes in order to go ahead.

Almost 800 members of Victoria’s Greek community, the highest number on record, turned out to cast their votes.

President of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) Bill Papastergiadis said he was thrilled with the result.

“It’s a great result, and in a history of 113 years this was the largest turnout for a community meeting, so it obviously captivated interest of members who wanted to express their opinion on the project,” Mr Papastergiadis said.

“We’ve got a clear mandate to now proceed with the project and bring it to fruition within two to three years”.

Following the result there has been significant interest in the Lonsdale St project from financial donors, Mr Papastergiadis said.

“Immediately after the meeting I was approached by a community group member saying he would be recommending to his board to give us $250,000 as a starter towards the building,” Mr Papastergiadis said, adding “we suspect there’ll be a lot more of these types of donations”.

The next step will now be finalising the planning process with Melbourne City Council, and also seeking federal funding, Mr Papastergiadis said.

“We’re excited, for our members but also for the entire general Greek Australian population,” he said.

“Symbolically this project will revitalize the precinct in the city and will be a beacon for Greeks all around the world.”