The Bluestone Ballarat: Nightclub for sale with nearly $1m price drop

Fancy getting into the local club scene? This popular venue has had nearly $1m slashed from its asking price.

The Bluestone nightclub at 101-103 Mair St, Ballarat Central.

The historic building home to a popular Ballarat nightclub is on the market for a slashed price.

The refurbished three-storey building at 101-103 Mair St — which started out as a Pratts Warehouse in 1869 and operated as The Bluestone since 2010 — is up for sale between $2.5 million and $2.75 million.

It’s been listed with Colliers International for more than 12 months now, and has been further reduced from its previous $3.5 million asking price.

Before that, it was listed with another agency for $4.5 million.

Colliers agent Andrew Lewis said the coronavirus pandemic was “100 per cent” the main contributor behind its inability to sell, as the hospitality industry was devastated.

“It’s always traded really well, obviously it’s not trading at all at the moment,” he said.

“It’s a groovy venue, it is worth more than what we’re looking for … it’s a very nice building, it’s very well done, it’s right in the heart of town.

“It was good rent being paid, and good profit being made out of this, it’s a good business.”

Mr Lewis said the former antique shop was a “flexible” building with “good utility” and could be repurposed for an office or some form of hospitality venue such as a pub.

The venue is licensed to host 660 people across its three levels.

The basement and ground floor both feature bars and dancefloors, and includes a beer garden.

Upstairs is a lounge function room with a marble bar.

According to the Victorian Heritage Database, the building is considered historically significant to Ballarat as a “rare example of a two-storey masonry warehouse of the mid-19th century”.