Former Carlton community service building sold off

A disused City of Melbourne-owned property in Carlton is among three properties in the municipality to have recently been sold off.

The single storey building at 47-49 Canning St, which formerly provided family and childcare services, was put on the market last year after a proposal was endorsed by the council last November, which also included selling properties at 505-513 Abbotsford St, North Melbourne, and 100-104 A’Beckett St, Melbourne.

The council confirmed the sale of the properties on May 10, saying, “following the six-week EOI campaign, CBRE (which was engaged to conduct the EOI), successfully achieved offers for all three properties at market value”, with offers officially signed by the council on May 5. 

The proceeds of the sales will be used to help deliver the City of Melbourne’s community infrastructure projects,” the council said, which a council report last year revealed would amount to $15 million.

“By selling these properties, we will reinvest the proceeds into city-shaping infrastructure projects and the capital works program. It was an opportunity to think about how we want to evolve as a city and be bold in creating a better future for Melbourne,” the council said.

When asked how much each property sold for, the council said, “settlement of the properties will occur over the coming months”.

The City of Melbourne manages $4.7 billion in assets on behalf of the community. The proceeds of any sales are reinvested to deliver city-shaping infrastructure projects and vital community services.

According to the council report, the most “frequent rationale” for supporting the property sales were “based on the property currently being vacant, not used or used to its full potential”.

“This was particularly the case for Canning St which received the highest level of support for sale based on its current disuse,” the report, published November last year, said.

The Canning St and Abbottsford St properties were also deemed too small to meet the requirements under the Melbourne Planning Scheme for affordable housing, the report said.

Community feedback and consultation were taken into consideration before each sale.

Previous family and children services delivered from the properties have either relocated to new integrated family and children centres in Lady Huntingfield, North Melbourne Child Care Centre, North Melbourne Community Centre, or at the new Munro Community Hub to open this year. 

Last year, the council had also proposed, controversially, to sell off a building at 30-38 Gatehouse Drive, Kensington, which provides a vital family clinic space to private organisation Midwives and Mothers Australia. But a community petition to keep the much-loved clinic led to councillors extending its lease by two years. •