REAL ESTATE agents eager to sell off the dilapidated Fletcher Jones factory say they’ll be flexible with the $2.7 million price tag on the industrial museum.
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Potential buyers have been eyeing the 2.3-hectare heritage-listed site for the past six months but despite murmurings, negotiations have gone nowhere.
The factory was again launched into the market over the weekend as realtors made fresh efforts to find an owner for the asbestos-riddled site.
Realtor Mark Wilson said he was keen to see the “doorway to the city” redeveloped.
Late last year owner Ian Ballis told The Standard he was nearing deals with two possible parties.
“Both those groups are still interested in the site,” Mr Wilson confirmed.
“One I got in touch with in Melbourne last week and the other I was with on the phone yesterday.”
Asked if agents were willing to lower the figure, Mr Wilson said “there’s an eagerness to sell”.
“There is asbestos throughout the building. Remediation of that could cost from $750,000 to $1 million,” he said.
Whoever takes the keys to the building would not be bound to any leases used by market stallholders inside the structure, he said.
Agents are asking developers to use their imagination to picture aged care, retail or homes take shape.
Industrial zoning on the factory substantially limits uses for the site, but Mr Wilson said Warrnambool City Council had voiced support for changing the zone.
“They would help facilitate it,” he said.
Warrnambool City Council manager of city and strategy Kirsty Miller said the council would consider changing to mixed use zoning but needed to first see a compelling plan.
“That would allow for a mixture of retail, offices and accommodation … it really depends on what is put forward,” Ms Miller said.
