Geelong city milk bar conversion like living ‘in a five-star hotel'
Developer Bill Votsaris oversaw the transformation of the prominent heritage building at the corner of Malop and Swanston streets after saving it from years of neglect.
He's now seeking a buyer for one of two premium townhouses within the landmark 1852 bluestone building.
Jellis Craig Geelong listing agent Marcus Falconer said the $1.8m property set the benchmark for luxury living in Geelong's city centre.
A private rooftop terrace with an indoor bar and servery is the crowning glory of the surprising two-bedroom residence.
'There are not too many people that would invest the money in saving that kind of history,' Mr Falconer said.
'It's SJB Architects, which are renowned as being one of Victoria's premier architectural firms, so the attention to detail and the quality of the fixtures and fittings is of a standard that is probably unparalleled in the Geelong market.
'This is the kind of home for a professional that wants to feel like they are in a five-star hotel.'
The building, which was most recently home to Fan's Milk Bar, was described as being in 'very dire' condition when Mr Votsaris bought the property.
His efforts to restore its original Victorian-era facade as part the conversion earned the project a 2024 Geelong Heritage Award.
Thoughtfully retained original bluestone and red brick details are also incorporated into the interior design.
A high-end kitchen featuring an integrated Liebherr fridge/freezer and Gaggenau induction cooktop, ovens and a coffee machine, is the centrepiece of the ground floor open-plan living zone.
A private north-facing courtyard offers an alternative outdoor entertainment area, while a wide tandem garage accommodates two cars.
Mr Falconer said the townhouse provided an attractive alternative for premium apartment buyers seeking easy access to the waterfront, Eastern Gardens and the CBD.
'This is one for people that perhaps don't want to be part of a body corporate and run the risk of big fees,' he said.
'It's one where everything has been done.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Telegraph
30 minutes ago
- Daily Telegraph
NAB fined $15.5m for failing to answer customers in financial hardship
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. National Australia Bank and a subsidiary have been fined more than $15m for failing to respond to hardship applications, with one executive conceding customers deserved better. In a Federal Court decision released on Wednesday, NAB and AFSH Nominees were found to have left hardship applicants in the dark after failing to respond within 21 days. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) brought the lawsuit. In her decision, Justice Penny Neskovcin details that people who asked the bank for help were going through medical emergencies, family violence, the pandemic and business failure, natural disasters, and redundancy and unemployment. 'These failures likely made an already challenging time in people's lives far worse,' ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said. NAB failed to respond to hardship application from people going through family violence and natural disasters. Picture: NewsWire / Kelly Barnes 'This penalty sends an important message to other financial institutions – customers should be at the centre of what you do.' Justice Neskovcin found NAB and AFSH made a 'high' number of breaches of the National Credit Code, in not providing written responses to 345 hardship notices between 2018 and 2023. The hardship claims were knocked back by NAB staff incorrectly clicking a 'reject' button in their system. About 6 per cent of 12,600 hardship applications were incorrectly rejected this way. NAB customer services boss Sharon Cook apologised and said 70 staff had been hired to address the issue. 'We're sorry we let down our customers when they needed our help,' she said. 'We have created NAB Care, a dedicated hardship assistance team, hired 70 new colleagues and increased the support options available to our customers. 'There is more to do, and we will continue to find ways to better support our customers who need us.' NAB says it has hired 70 staff in a new dedicated hardship assistance unit. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Campbell Under the National Credit Code, if someone cannot pay their loan, lenders must consider varying the credit contract and advise them of the decision within specified time frames. Payment deferrals, reduced payment arrangements, interest-only periods, term extensions, capitalisation of arrears or interest-rate reductions are all options to get the loan repayments happening again. As well as the $15.5m fine, NAB and AFSH have to publish notices about the breaches on their websites. AFSH Nominees sells mortgages as Advantedge Financial Services. From September 30, Advantedge will stop accepting new home loan applications. From next year, all Advantedge loans will be moved over to NAB. In a letter sent to affected customers, NAB customer services executive Jocelyn Turner told them what the bank had fixed since the wave of hardship rejections. 'Our customers deserved better from us, particularly during their most challenging financial moments,' Ms Turner said. 'We have taken our response extremely seriously and have been working alongside ASIC to improve our approach.' As well as the 70 new staff, more hardship options are available to people, and frontline NAB staff have completed training to recognise financial hardship indicators. Executives from across the bank also now met to discuss particularly sensitive and complex hardship cases to provide 'personalised solutions', Ms Turner said. 'As a result of these actions, more customers are receiving hardship support through NAB,' she said. 'While this reflects the unfortunate reality that many Australians continue to face financial challenges, the increasing referral rate also means more customers are receiving help. 'Importantly, we are helping them in the early stages enabling them to recover more quickly.' Originally published as 'Deserved better': NAB fined $15.5m for failing to answer customers in financial hardship
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Leak proves economic roundtable ‘choreographed', Ley says
A leak revealing the Treasury pre-wrote a list of outcomes from Labor's much-hyped economic roundtable is proof the 'whole exercise is being choreographed', Sussan Ley says. The roundtable will not happen until next week, and yet a Treasury document showed pre-written advice for cabinet, the ABC reported on Thursday. Among the recommendations was pausing the National Construction Code, which sets safety and environmental standards for buildings. The code has been criticised, including by the Productivity Commission, for driving up the cost of construction by imposing overly strict regulations. The leaked document also recommended a plan to roll out artificial intelligence to process building approvals. The Opposition Leader said it was clear the government already knew what it wanted from the upcoming roundtable. 'It's all been lined up, statements are ready to go out,' Ms Ley told Nine's Today. 'People are going there in good faith and they want to see outcomes. 'They want see us growing the economic pie and they want to see Australians pay less tax and be rewarded for their effort. 'I fear that none of those things are actually on the agenda at this productivity roundtable.' Her predecessor, Peter Dutton, took a 10-year pause on the National Construction Code to the federal election. Whether the policy remains in line with Ms Ley's vision for the Coalition is unclear. Further on housing, the Treasury advice recommended measures to streamline housing approvals and reforms to clear a backlog of 30,000 applications waiting to clear environmental hurdles. The artificial intelligence plan would be key to getting through that backlog. The focus on housing comes amid widespread expectations the Albanese government will fall short of its pledge to build 1.2 million homes by 2030. Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth defended the pre-written advice, saying it was normal for Treasury officials to prepare notes based on conversations in the lead-up to the big talks. 'It's not surprising that Treasury would prepare advice to government and, of course, in the lead-up to the productivity roundtable, there has been ministers and other organisations holding a lot of discussions,' Ms Rishworth told the ABC. 'There's been other roundtables led by government ministers discussing some of the challenges and some of the opportunities.' She added that it was 'a really good opportunity to bring people together and look at the very long term of what we need to do as a country'.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Mt Waverley Secondary College zone unit sells for $753k
A Vietnamese family has ended a nine-month house hunt with a $753,000 auction win for a renovated home in one of Melbourne's most fiercely contested school zones. The buyers, whose daughter already attends Mt Waverley Primary, had missed out at several auctions before securing the two-bedroom unit at 4/2 Clive St in the coveted Mt Waverley Secondary College catchment. The father, a lecturer in Vietnam, had been flying in for inspections, determined to keep the family within the prized zone. RELATED: 'Traps': Vic homes you shouldn't buy Shock list of Melb's most sold suburbs Affairs, lies and leaks: Block chaos exposed Ray White Mt Waverley's Jacob Biviano said renovated units were a scarcity in the suburb and this one's quality and location made it hotly contested. 'They'd been looking for nine months, missed out several times, and this time they weren't leaving without it,' Mr Biviano said. 'Being in that school zone was non-negotiable, and renovated units like this just don't come up very often here.' The home is tucked at the rear of the block and had been comprehensively updated by its former owner, who lived in it for several years before renting it out. Polished floorboards flow through open-plan living and dining, the kitchen features stone benches and premium appliances, and a cafe servery window opens onto a north-facing deck and synthetic-turf courtyard. Two robed bedrooms, a modern laundry/bathroom, separate toilet, reverse-cycle heating and cooling, evaporative cooling and a carport round out the low-maintenance package. More than 55 groups inspected the home during the campaign, with three bidders — including a local investor and a buyer from Camberwell — vying for it at auction. The family prevailed just above the $700,000-$750,000 price guide. Mr Biviano said the home's location had all of the right ingredients for buyers. 'You can walk to Mount Waverley and Jordanville train stations, Hamilton Place shops are just around the corner, and you're in one of Melbourne's most sought-after school zones,' he said. 'The past fortnight has been noticeably busier, buyers know spring will bring more stock and more competition, so they're acting now to get ahead of that,' he said. The Ray White Mount Waverley agent said he believes Mount Waverley is poised for another growth surge, with the Suburban Rail Loop on the horizon and Monash and Deakin universities close by. 'Thirty years ago my father was selling here when it was still mostly market gardens,' Mr Biviano said. 'Now it's a premium market in its own right, quieter than Glen Waverley but with exceptional schools. 'I think the capital growth here will rival and could potentially exceed Glen Waverley in the years ahead.'
