Brisbane investor snaps up Channel 7 building in Mackay
The old Channel 7 news station on Mackay’s Victoria St has sold after years of being on and off the market. Find out what’s next for the legendary space.
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A Brisbane investor has snapped up the defunct Channel 7 building at 216-218 Victoria St with plans to renovate and re-lease it.
Blacks Real Estate director Greg Lewis organised the sale with Colliers International and said the 1400sq m floored space was already on the leasing market.
“It could be offices, a medical centre, gymnasiums, one of the assets of this property is the large car park in the rear,” he said.
The investor owns other properties in Mackay and Mr Lewis said he purchased the former broadcasting station to enhance his portfolio.
“It just shows confidence in Mackay real estate and the CBD for these large sites,” he said.
“It shows local investors are comfortable investing further dollars into the local region.”
An exact sale price is unknown at this time but the site was listed for $1.6m and Lewis confirmed he negotiated a sale below that figure.
Mr Lewis said the sale and the proposal to renovate showed further momentum in Mackay’s real estate landscape.
“We have a very low vacancy rate in Paget and we think the office space may follow through,” he said.
The more recent positive trend in CBD real estate follows an extended period of decline, with a landscape pockmarked with vacancies.
In 2021, industry leaders considered developing an investment pool to buy back and resuscitate dilapidated buildings.
The Channel 7 was launched as MVQ6 in August 1968.
Mackay Television Ltd sold the property to Sunshine Television Network in September, 1997, for $0 under an “extraordinary circumstance”.
According to Blacks Real Estate, the building was the first to introduce a videotape machine and full-scale colour transmission, “revolutionising the way television was produced and consumed in North Queensland”.
The two-level office building has a warehouse and a commercial city mixed use precinct designation under the Mackay Regional Council zoning plan.
It also features a telecommunications tower leased to Vodafone and Redfox Corporation.
The property had been on and off the market since 2017.
The interior of the former broadcasting station had been described as a “warren” with some asserting 7 News chose to relocate a few doors down to reduce operational costs.
Take a tour of 24 other empty Mackay region buildings and businesses here.
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