Norwich Plaza, the 1980s style icon where the clock is always a hellish 15 minutes to knock-off, is again being offered for sale by interest.
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The beige box was last offered in the distant days prior to COVID-19, in 2018.
The sale comes as the City of Ballarat considers a change to the design and development overlay for the site, amid increasing concerns Ballarat's future planning and current heritage are on a path to collision.
The last and least-architecturally adorable of a series of significant buildings on the site, its reconfiguration been described as the key to a successful re-opening of Bridge Street and a wider rejuvenation of the the lower part of the CBD.
Estate agent Joe Walton of Gorman Allard Shelton says the building's owners had originally planned to sell the site in 2018, then looked at the idea of a major redevelopment of the 3500 square-metre building, which has more than 200m of frontages. However, he says they are now concentrating on other investments and have decided to put Norwich Plaza back on the market.
He says the building represents a unique opportunity to 'developers and entrepreneurial investors'.
"Given its strategic location within Ballarat's principle activity centre, the site presents an amazing opportunity for retail, commercial or residential development outcomes," Mr Walton said.
"Alternatively, it also affords a rare opportunity to the entrepreneurial investor seeking to reposition existing tenancies and bring this substantial asset back to its former glory."
READ MORE OF THE HISTORY OF THIS SITE:
- From Nicholls Drapery to the faded Norwich Plaza, this corner of the city is key to a retail rejuvenation
- Norwich Plaza listed for sale, could it be torn down?
- Plan to re-develop Norwich Plaza in the pipeline
- Who owns the future: Ballarat's CBD vacancies, family trusts, absentee landlords and solutions to a dying Sturt Street
- The Ballarat clock where time stands still
- Constructive criticism: can Ballarat have a conversation about its future?
The history of the corner of Bridge and Grenville streets has been examined many times by The Courier, and others, as a classic example of how poor planning multiplies bad outcomes.
There would be little argument that had the original Nicholl & Co building (not the first building on the corner but an astonishing statement of Victorian confidence) remained on the site, it would now be a drawcard to the city and most likely redeveloped into much sought-after inner-city apartment living.
Instead, as it seems Ballarat's way must always be, a series of ever architecturally-diminishing buildings were imposed on the site, until the colourbond Plaza was built in 1981, replacing a Coles New World.
Developer influence and council failure to appreciate how a city can grow yet retain its connection to the past through concrete examples of buildings set a precedent increasingly and depressingly repeated today.
A design and development overlay (DDO1) for the site was created some years ago. The Courier understands this overlay will be presented by City of Ballarat officers to councillors this week.