HQ owner switch flagged
GEELONG Council may reconsider taking ownership of its $102.5m Civic Precinct headquarters, despite works having only just started on the major development project, councillors have revealed.
The council on Tuesday authorised the City of Greater Geelong’s chief executive to launch the procurement process for a pair of loans, worth $41m and $4m, to fund the Mercer Street Civic Precinct project and an
LED street lighting project respectively.
While supporting the loans, councillors signalled that the CoGG may re-evaluate its ownership model of its new headquarters.
“We have discussed ownership models for the Civic Precinct into the future, and owning the building is not the only model out there,” councillor Eddy Kontelj said.
“It is a significant burden that we are taking on.”
Finance portfolio chair Cr Anthony Aitken suggested the council’s $102.5m spend on the $220m precinct may be money that would be better spent elsewhere.
“We do have to have that debate at a future stage around ownership — and whether it is the right type of asset that we want in terms of the broader community benefit,” Cr Aitken said.
“I’m sure that the community would rather have $100m spent in their local areas than have $100m spent on an administration headquarters in the CBD of Geelong that has limited access to it for the broader public.”
A planning permit was issued for the Civic Precinct project in June, and a construction licence has also been granted.
Contractors launched clearing works at the site earlier this month.
The CoGG will partner with Quintessential Equity to build a new six-storey city headquarters and 12-storey commercial building at the Mercer Street site.
The extra $45m in loans approved by the council on Tuesday are forecast to take the CoGG’s loan balance to $116.1m at June 30, 2021.