Who will throw their hat into the ring for the famed John Curtin Hotel?

The John Curtin Hotel was listed for sale in February.

Is it final curtains at the famed John Curtin Hotel?

Allison Worrall|Feb 21, 2022

News the John Curtin Hotel was being put up for sale was met with a chorus of despair in Melbourne last week amid the familiar fear that another cultural institution would be bulldozed to make way for an apartment tower.

As former patrons took nostalgic trips down memory lanes, petitions were circled and the Victorian Trades Hall Council, located just opposite the Curtin, revealed it was considering buying the venue.

But while the community ramps up efforts to prevent the Carlton hotel from falling into the hands of a commercial developer, the agents handling the sale of the venue say its fate is not yet set it stone, tipping hotel operators will also throw their hat in the ring.

A famed institution known as the bedrock of the labour movement last century, the hotel has served pints up to university students, unionists, activists and politicians, notably Labor’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Bob Hawke.

The Curtin has also been a beloved live music venue in an urban landscape offering dwindling opportunities for local and emerging bands.

Screen_Shot_2022-02-21_at_1.52.50_pm_zpuuub — Former premier Steve Bracks, then-opposition leader Bill Shorten and Premier Daniel Andrews share a beer in memory of former prime minister Bob Hawke at The Curtin in May 2019. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

While Melbourne is well-versed in the loss of historic cultural institutions – long before strict lockdowns and crowd restrictions brought the arts industry to its knees – the prospect of the John Curtin shutting permanently has certainly struck a nerve among former patrons.

The management team posted a sombre message to its Facebook page last week, prompting an outpouring of support.

“The rumours are true,” the post read. “It’s with an agonisingly sad heart, that The John Curtin hotel’s time on this earth will come to an end. The owners of the almost 150-year-old building have decided to sell, making way, most likely for apartments.”

The site is being offered to the market with a short-term lease running until November.

“Beyond that, we have no idea what the developers will have planned for us,” the statement read.

Set on a 334-square-metre corner block, the hotel is expected to garner offers above $6 million.

Just a few hundred metres from the CBD, and with a height precedent of nine levels on surrounding projects, the site has been earmarked for a mixed-used or residential development.

Director of CBRE Hotels Victoria Mathew George said he is anticipating strong interest from property aggregators and developers, but is “equally confident of active participation from the hotel sector”.

“There’s no reason to suggest it can’t be sold as a pub and to continue on in that vain,” he told Commercial Real Estate.

“Everyone seems to be talking about the potential development aspect but I think a few people who jumped to that conclusion might have overlooked there hasn’t been much freehold-going-concerns stock.”

Owner-operators have been starved for choice in the Melbourne market for the past 10 years, Mr George said, adding freeholds rarely came onto the market and, if they did, usually had a long lease in place.

Mr George said he expected “genuine interest from owner-operators looking to utilise and expand on the hotel’s licence.”

Last week, Victorian trade unions were crunching numbers and discussing a bid to buy the hotel, with the aim of preserving its cultural and social significance.

Mr George said the campaign was only in its earliest stages but confirmed he had already fielded interest from a cross-section of potential buyers.

The international expressions-of-interest campaign for 27-31 Lygon Street runs until the end of March.