Mayor Moots Office Block Sale to Pay Down Geelong Debt

The Mayor of Victoria’s second city says council-owned assets may need to be sold, including an underperforming office block, to pay down its $190-million debt.

One of those assets is the Wurriki Nyal Civic Headquarters building, a 2205sq m office block over five storeys with an estimated value of $102 million. 

The council has been unable to lease out the office and retail space in the building, which was completed in 2022. 

City of Greater Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj said he wanted to explore options for the building, including selling it—an idea also put forward by other councillors.

According to reports, the Mayor estimates that there are about 850 council-owned properties that could potentially be sold.

Records show that the council owns $4.8 billion worth of assets, including property, equipment and infrastructure. It has about 200 properties leased.

The council’s Budget forecast for the next four years predicts an operating surplus of $800,000 to $1.5 million. The Mayor said he was keen to reduce the council’s debt by $50 million over the next year. 

▲ City of Greater Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj is keen to sell council-owned assets to address council debt.

With the nonrecurring surplus of $178.79 million, the council’s total surplus for the 2024-25 Budget is expected to be about $180.30 million. 

In 2022, when the Wurriki Nyal Civic Headquarters completed, a Savills and SGS Planning report prepared for the-then Victorian Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning, predicted that A-grade office space in Geelong was unlikely to be developed or successfully leased without a high level of precommitment from tenants. 

While the need for office space was predicted to grow, the size and grade of office space was also deemed important.

The report predicted that the success of A-grade office space in Geelong would depend on an increased need for tenancies from government and government bodies that could take on larger tenancies and whether employees would be allowed to work from home.

▲ The Wurriki Nyal Civic Headquarters at Geelong was completed in 2022 and remains untenanted.