Council exchanged contracts on the building last week following protracted negotiations and after receiving a “conservative” commercial valuation of $2.1 million for the property.

General manager, Leanne Barnes said that the building was bought for $1.293 million plus GST and has a mortgage attached to it of $556,200. However this mortgage will reduce to zero, Ms Barnes said in 2018 providing the building is used for training in accordance with the NSW State Training which originally gave the conditional grant to Auswide to expand the facilities.

The 3421 sqm building was placed in the hands of the liquidator, Deloitte, after Auswide, a not-for-profit training organisation ran out of funding and government contracts.

Council has called the purchase “prudent” and mayor, Michael Britten, said the facility will provide a self-funded option for council to invest in the shire’s economic development.

“A decision was made to purchase the former Auswide building following a council business plan which identified a lack of professional training venues within the shire and surrounding region,” he said.

“We made contact with more than 50 registered training organisations with an advertised presence in the region and 46 responded positively that if suitably priced premises were available they would consider hiring those facilities to deliver training.

Once occupied, the management of the facility will require staff resources. Council’s business plan for the facility includes the provision to employ an officer on site to directly promote and manage the facility as a whole, including administration of bookings, payments, advertising and building maintenance.

Cr Britten said: “It is encouraging that among the 46 organisations keen to use the facility, four have expressed an interest in becoming potential anchor tenants.” It is understood that they have offered to provide this service if they receive tenancy.

Council said it believes that the combination of the borrowing costs and the operating costs of the facility can be met by the hiring fees generated from the use of the facility. A more detailed operating plan will be drafted in the coming months, council said.

The building will also used for administration for not-for-profit organisations, Ms Barnes said adding that that council's own community services team offering ageing and disability programs could move into the building. The service currently operates from leased accommodation in Bega.

Entities such as Sapphire Coast Tourism and South East Arts have approached council recently looking for assistance with accommodation too. The facility could accommodate a number of community groups with minimal impact on the operational nature of the site, council has said.

Council will also commencement the process of rezoning the property from its current zoning of R3 Medium Density Residential to a more appropriate zoning of B2 Local Centre to allow for more flexible delivery of services and uses.

Council is also looking at the possibility of using the building for services such as bill payments, library drop offs and advice services.

In the report to council, there is a suggestion that a third storey on the building, for which it has a DA, could be used as a regional technology park. 

Council said that the property gives the community a much needed public training and conferencing facility, which will be referred to as the Bega Valley Regional Learning Centre.

In other property news, Ms Barnes said that council had resolved to put its property on the market in Main Street, Merimbula where the library was previously housed along with the squash courts.

Ms Barnes said that council was currently going through due diligence and that the site would be offered through “private tender”.

In the meantime rumours continue to surface over possible interest by supermarket, Aldi.

Asked about interest in Merimbula, an Aldi spokeswoman said: “Aldi is constantly considering new locations, however we cannot currently confirm a site at Merimbula. When opening a new store, Aldi considers the long term potential of the area and population numbers. Aldi will continue to work closely with the local planning bodies like council, other businesses and residents to ensure a new store positively impacts the local community.”

Not everyone is happy

While council believes it has made a “prudent” purchase, the Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association has questioned council’s justification for buying the building.

Secretary, John Richardson said that council had failed to provide any justification for spending public funds on the purchase, having just two years ago spent $1.1 million on the Tura Beach Tavern, using borrowed funds. 

Mr Richardson said that the purchase of the Tura Tavern had been done without planning beforehand and that now half that site remained unused, with no publicly stated plans as to its intended use.

“It is true that council recovered some of the costs of this adventure by selling-off the tavern’s poker-machine licenses, while apparently earmarking the use of some kitchen equipment in the new Civic Centre, the fact remains that this commercial venture has cost residents/ratepayers at least $200,000, the meter is still running and there is still no business plan in-place,” Mr Richardson said .

He questioned where the money was coming from for the purchase of the Auswide building as there was nothing in council’s budgets/plans identifying a requirement for such a large building.