Liberals look to sell HQ for $30m
THE Victorian Liberal Party is selling up its Melbourne CBD headquarters for $30 million ahead of the November state election.
The six-level, blue-chip building on Exhibition St is being sold through Colliers International, the real estate company announced yesterday.
The cash-strapped Liberals took out a $2 million mortgage against the building after now-jailed, former state director and Ocean Grove resident Damien Mantach stole $1.5 million from the party.
Suggestions the building could be sold have been floated for years and at the party’s state conference in April some members expressed anger at the idea. Then-treasurer Russell Hannan told the conference the building was being better utilised earning $1.3 million in rent in 2018 compared to $810,000 in 2016.
The party also took key donor the Cormack Foundation to court to try to get a hold of its $70 million war chest, but the move failed to win the Liberals’ complete control.
“104 Exhibition St is currently fully leased and offers excellent future rental growth potential given the prime east end location and strong Melbourne CBD office leasing market,” Melbourne city sales director Daniel Wolman said in a statement, announcing the sale.
Last month, the State Government called on the ombudsman to investigate more than a dozen MPs in connection to Mantach’s theft from the party, while Mantach’s father appealed to the party to forgive his son’s debt, saying it would be “vindictive” to force him to repay the cash.