Geelong’s derelict Ritz Flats could be replaced with luxury eight-storey hotel
A historic but dilapidated central Geelong building which inspired the local council’s “Ritz law” – that fines owners who keep unkempt properties – is selling after 30 years and numerous sale campaigns, and is now earmarked to make way for a luxury eight-storey hotel.
So big is the incoming owner’s proposal to replace the Ritz Flats property at 10 Bellerine Street that the decision making authority bypasses the City of Greater Geelong to rest with Victorian planning minister, Richard Wynne.
The application comes four months after the registered purchaser, an investor in the finance industry, entered into an agreement to buy the derelict site at the south-west corner of Corio Street, adjacent to Austin Park and Eastern Beach, for an as-yet-undisclosed price speculated to be as high as $7 million.
Built in the 1850s, Ritz Flats has performed numerous social roles including as a coffee palace, hotel and boarding house.
The property was originally built in the 1850s. Photo: Supplied
For more than 30 years the 1548-square-metre Ritz Flats site has been retained as an investment by Tim Truong, reported as an eccentric businessman.
Since 1984 Mr Truong lodged five development applications to replace the complex – the most recent, allowing for a five-storey hotel, was approved in 2006 and has been extended five times.
However, the condition of the complex has deteriorated in that time. It is often branded an eyesore in local press. In 2013, the powerful CFMEU suggested the council compulsorily acquire the heritage-listed site to protect it from collapse.
Anger about the rundown condition of the high-profile Ritz Flats resulted in the December 2014 introduction of a neighbourhood amenity law allowing the council to fine owners $2000 a month for failing to keep property in good order.
The building has been the subject to numerous complaints about its rundown condition. Photo: Supplied
Mr Truong twice last year deferred appearances at the Geelong Magistrates Court to face fines of up to $32,000 for allowing the Ritz Flats facility to fall into disrepair, it was reported.
The new owner declined to comment about the application, or purchase, which came after a long campaign managed by KBL Commercial. The Geelong property was on and off the market for years prior to the most recent campaign.
The hotel development application is expected to be decided within months. In the Geelong area Mr Wynne decides on projects of greater than 5000 square metres (this figure is 25,000 square metres for metropolitan Melbourne projects).
Elsewhere in Geelong, this month local businessman Bill Votsaris paid members of the Thomas Jeweller enterprise $3.76 million for the historic five-level National Mutual building at the corner of Moorabool and Malop streets. This building is also mooted to make way for a boutique hotel after the vendor vacates next year.
Last year Event Hospitality and Entertainment reportedly spent more than $25 million for the seven-storey, semi-circle Mercure Hotel, which will be rebranded Rydges Geelong.
The regional town about 75 kilometres south-west of Melbourne had motor giant Ford as one of its highest profile occupants until that company shut its production line last October.
Last April Wesfarmers-owned Target announced plans to relocate its headquarters from Geelong to Melbourne, a move which would reportedly affect 900 local jobs.
Twitter: @marcpallisco
