Fortitude Valley’s Waltons building on sale after being ‘abandoned’ for decades

A historic Fortitude Valley department store building left “abandoned” for decades is officially on the market, waiting to be transformed into something as iconic as its predecessor.

Real estate agency Savills is selling 3489sq m of land at 250 Wickham St. Picture: Supplied / Savills

A historic site once home to landmark department store Waltons in the heart of Fortitude Valley has been placed on the market decades after it was “abandoned”.

Real estate agency Savills has listed 3489sq m of land at 250 Wickham St.

The site’s main buildings, including one that is six storeys tall, were built from the late 1890s for a successful drapery firm WJ Overell and Sons, established by businessman William Overall.

Overells, as it came to be known, began operations from a building at the site in 1900.

But just a few years later in 1904, it caught fire and burned to the ground, causing the death of one man, cutting power to trams, and destroying the bank next door.

The majority of the buildings at the site have not been used for decades. Picture: Supplied / Savills

A new three-storey building was built and opened about 10 months after the fire.

Mr Overell later bought additional land from the bank next door and built a second multistorey structure.

The iconic site was once home to landmark department store Waltons. Picture: Supplied / Savills

Various expansions, renovations, and alterations were undertaken until the 1950s when Waltons, a huge Sydney department store, bought the company and the buildings.

A Brisbane City Council heritage website says Fortitude Valley’s popularity as a shopping destination declined from the 1960s and Waltons closed in the 1980s.

Savills reported the site had since been “largely abandoned and … left unused”.

It was previously proposed the site be transformed into a university campus. Picture: Supplied / Savills

Some retailers now occupy the smaller tenancies in the buildings that front Brunswick St but a majority of the buildings are vacant.

The site is located directly next to the Fortitude Valley Train Station, about 1km northeast of the CBD, and is listed on the local heritage register for its buildings’ historical, characteristic, and aesthetic significance and special association to Waltons and Overells.

There is potential for a building of up to 30 storeys to be built at the site.

Current owners Mount Cathay Pty Ltd intended to take advantage of this allowance, submitting a proposal mid-2021 to transform the existing department store buildings into a Torrens University campus and student accommodation tower.