Mont Albert: former Salvation Army offices to be restored, a boost for neighbouring businesses

An empty office building in the centre of Mont Albert has fallen into disrepair over the past decade. But the new owner’s plans for a makeover could provide a boost for nearby businesses.

The large building is in the centre of Mont Albert Village.

The monstrous “eyesore” that has loomed over Mont Albert Village for more than a decade is finally set to be restored.

The three-storey office building at 3-7 Hamilton St, which dominates the centre of Mont Albert’s main shopping strip, is about to undergo a major refurbishment before tenants move in for the first time in almost 12 years.

It was recently bought by Ballarat-based development company, H. Troon, which has plans to extensively renovate the whole building to allow 300-400 office workers to move in by mid next year.

The large building is next to the train line in the centre of Mont Albert Village.

After a few months of extensive work, “it will look like a new building”, according to leasing agent Joshua Tebb.

He said the development would lift the area and be “quite exciting for the local shops”, which hadn’t had tenants to support them for more than a decade.

The former headquarters of the Salvation Army, the building has fallen into disrepair, leaving an ugly blight in the centre of the shopping precinct.

Mont Albert Foodworks owner Hiren Patel, whose store is opposite, said the “filthy, ugly” structure had become a major concern.

The building has not been occupied for almost 12 years.

“It has impacted everyone in the street,” he said.

“Because the building occupies about 50 per cent of the street.”

Mr Patel said he was yet to become hopeful about the new plans to fix the building.

“We’ve been waiting for the last 12 years,” he said.

“I don’t like to live in a dream.”

Churchill Cafe and Larder manager Dimitri Valhos agreed the empty building had affected nearby businesses in the long term.

The building has been described as “filthy, ugly” by its neighbour.

But he said the new plans seemed like they would “definitely” help the shopping strip.

“Any people in the street is going to benefit the street,” he said.

A Whitehorse resident, who did not want to be named, contacted Whitehorse Leaderconcerned the “great, big ugly eyesore” had been taking up so much space in the shopping strip as strip shops faced tougher times.

The Salvation Army moved out in 2008 and the building was sold to a private developer. A proposal to increase the size of the building to four storeys and to add apartments and a gym was approved at VCAT in May 2014, but was never acted on.

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But H. Troon’s plans for the building are definitely happening, Mr Tebb said.

“Demolition works should start this week,” he said.

Mr Tebb said the developer was planning to have the complete internal refit done by March 1.

Its 3740sq m of office space is already being advertised to tenants and is receiving “a really strong response”.

He said it was unnjgo9hsurprising the space was in high-demand, being located on a train line, in a well-regarded suburb.