A piece of Ballarat history is up for sale, with The Ansonia on Lydiard Street hitting the market.
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Originally a stable complex that stretched from Armstrong Street, the two-storey Lydiard Street South section was built in 1868.
Home to several businesses over more than a century, including offices and a bank, it was converted into a boutique hotel in the 1990s, across the road from the iconic Her Majesty's Theatre and just down the road from Craig's Royal Hotel.
The building now has 19 guest rooms and a restaurant with courtyard, plus a glass-ceiling atrium, and is up for sale for a cool $3.495 million.
Crucially for an inner-city block, it sits on 1105 square-metres, with about 1200 square-metres over two storeys, according to real estate agents Colliers International.
Managing director Andrew Lewis said the current owner had fallen in love with the building, and set up the hotel business only for COVID to strike.
"The timing's been shocking for him," he said.
"The landlord has outgrown it and is looking to unload it - it hasn't bounced out (of COVID) yet, it needs money to spend on it to take it another level."
Mr Lewis said potential owners could increase the boutique offering and bump it to a four-star or higher hotel, or make the most of the push for the "university city" plan from the City of Ballarat and Federation University, to create student accommodation as the SMB campus grows.
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"It's over a quarter acre in the middle of the CBD, it's a lot of land, a lot of building for the money - we're talking about less than $3000 per square-metre," he said. "It's cheaper than what you'd pay for an industrial warehouse."
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