Old Kyneton Hospital trades for $4.95m
The former Kyneton District Hospital has sold for $4.95 million to Embracia Communities which is planning an aged care project to occupy.
The unrenovated property on a 3.6 hectare riverside block at 67 Simpson Street carried price hopes of $5.75-$6.25m when it hit the market in April.
A high-profile campaign to save the bluestone building on the block from disrepair, vandalism – and development – was supported by former SBS News presenter Lee Lin Chin in this 2016 YouTube video.
Constructed in 1856 and one of the state’s earliest country clinics, the facility closed in 2005 when functions were relocated to Kyneton District Health Service office.
The government divested 67 Simpson St shortly after.
It has been onsold a couple of times since.
The latest vendor, Hong Kong’s Winport Developments, paid $1.6m in 2011.
In 2016, the builder won approval for a 67-lot subdivision which would have seen the hospital converted as four apartments and other bluestone buildings fitted as townhouses.
When building hadn’t commenced, Heritage Victoria last year issued the owner a warning that if it didn’t undertake minor repairs of the heritage protected property, it risked a c$1.5m fine.
Buxton Ballarat’s Michael Nunn and Ray White Kyneton’s Helen Jens represented Winport; the agents also targeted gallery owners and hospitality operators.
