David Cook-Doulton and Martin Shew have purchased the nearly 170-year-old Unicorn Hotel on Sturt Street, and plan major renovations and restorations in line with work already done by previous owners to enhance the building's connection to Ballarat's history.

The couple have been responsible for several other properties in Ballarat being brought back to life, including Lascelles Terrace in Errard Street N. and Lyons House in Lyons Street N. They are currently developing Hotel Vera at 710 Sturt Street and the Bendigo Gallery Hotel..

The Unicorn sold after being on the market for the past two-and-a-half years, and joins several other CBD properties changing hands recently, including the Suttons and Berry-Anderson buildings.

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The two-storey pub, which has been vacant recently and had operated as a cafe previously, was built in 1854, and is one of the oldest buildings on Sturt Street. It has been extensively refurbished inside in the past two years.

Mr Cook-Doulton says he and Mr Shew have enormous confidence in the future of the CBD and of the opportunities opening for Ballarat in accommodation and hospitality overall.

"It's such a gift to have a building like that," Mr Cook-Doulton says.

"Our love is the restoration of our buildings, giving them a purpose that makes them become alive. They become an asset to the town that they are in. For us, it's really about how we explore these buildings in a positive way, and show what you can actually do with them.

"There are so many opportunities here, and whatever we do will be of the highest standard. With the land behind it, we want to sit back and look at what we can do; obviously we want to develop it, but keep it separate from what we do in front. I'd really love to take my time with that and build something that Ballarat deserves.

"I think Ballarat has a lot of really cool lanes and and I think with Her Majesty's sitting behind the hotel, there's a great opportunity to really make that alive."

It is a bittersweet moment for the former owners, who agreed on a 12-month settlement for the property and asked not to be identified.

"Obviously we wouldn't have it up for sale if we weren't happy to sell it, and the market is difficult, but we are happy it's sold and we have every confidence the new owners will treat the building with respect," they said.

The previous owners said the work they undertook over many years to save the Unicorn was a considerable effort of love.

"No one remembers what it was like," they said.

"None of the arches downstairs, those windows - they're not the originals. All of that was gone, we put it all back in. It was all aluminium shop fronts. We are a little bit sad after all the hard work we've done that we're passing it on, but it's time to give it to someone else who can develop it further. It has been a long journey."

The hotel, which has a laneway access at the side, once had small shops behind it and complemented what was known as 'The Corner', where Ballarat's stock exchange business was conducted. Demolished in the 1960s, the majestic London and Mutual Bank stood next to the Unicorn, forming one of the most complete period streetscapes in the country.

The Unicorn operated as a licenced hotel for over 100 years. Police objected to the renewal of its licence in 1956 and then-owner Mr Shaw agreed to undertake renovations and not to reopen the building as a licenced premises. It was reduced in size from the 1940s and closed as a hotel in 1973.

It's been the scene of more than one tragedy. In February 1868 Henry Williams was killed and William Hockey mortally injured in the Unicorn mine at the hotel's rear, when the bucket Williams was riding in fell to the bottom of its 160-foot (50m) shaft.

An unfortunate hotel guest named Benjamin Brain who suffered from a chest disease shot himself in 1877. Mr Brain had lost money speculating on the mines; according to newspaper reports, 'his mind gave way.'

Colliers International was the seller of the hotel and other CBD properties. Senior executive Charles Kennedy says interest in Ballarat's CBD market has spiked in the last six to eight months.

"We have had a lot of inquiries, particularly from people looking for investment opportunities in some of these period CBD trophy buildings," Mr Kennedy said.

"The demand for owner occupation in the CBD, particularly period buildings, is unparalleled. In the past, probably up until three, four or five years ago, you couldn't give away a vacant period building with no improvement or little improvement. It was a battle just to find any level of interest. That's flipped on its head.

"We sold (the Sutton building) to a Melbourne investor who has the wherewithal to treat it as the grand old property that it certainly is; so that's under lease to The Piano Bar there. They are still there, continuing to operate and have gone back to regular hours as we've come out of COVID."

Mr Kennedy says Colliers have also sold the former Berry Anderson building in Dana Street has also sold over its reserve after being passed in at auction in May. He says there are more reasons to the growth in interest in Ballarat property than simply people looking for life outside of Melbourne post-pandemic.

"That'll certainly be part of it," he says, "but there's probably a number of drivers.

"The low interest rate environment we've got had for some time is another one. Then just the shortage of these types of buildings, with those interest rates being at an all time low, we have a lot of people that want to own or occupy and want projects where they can add value to a to a building with a pedigree or a history behind it. Some something with character."

"So 123 Sturt Street we sold a couple months ago, two or three months ago. That was NL Harvey's camera and photography business. We sold 48 Sturt Street for the government, that beautiful building on the corner of Sturt and Camp. There's been quite a number of these buildings sold over the course of the last six to 12 months."

Mr Cook-Doulton thinks Bridge Mall will improve as lower Sturt Street grows. "That area has so many buildings, so many opportunities," he says.

"What I'd love to see is some of the commercial owners look back at how the buildings once were, and start to add that detail back. You see that a lot through through Europe. I think our council went to Bath to see that, there's a lot of that sort of proactive approach to really restore old buildings.

"That's what I would love to see with development, and that there are funds associated with that, and council working collaboratively in these sort of areas to be part of it in a proactive way, which I think they'd be open to.

"Melbourne is seeing the opportunities here now. Hopefully we're at the start of something very exciting. Really, with The Unicorn, it's an opportunity that can't be missed,"

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