Belchers Corner owners corp woes continue, as city reveals it is owed $4m

The future of Belchers Corner remains in limbo with its owner still owing Geelong council $4.1m after council stepped in to demolish the building to maintain public safety.

The future of Belchers Corner remains in limbo with its owner still owing Geelong council $4.1m after council stepped in to demolish the building to maintain public safety.

It comes as the site has major development potential and sits within a zone that could allow a 32-metre building to be constructed.

Council chief executive Martin Cutter said it would take all “appropriate legal avenues” to recoup the $4.1m it was owed after the building was demolished in 2020.

“Prioritising public safety, the city completed all works necessary for the stabilisation and

demolition of the building, incurring total costs of approximately $4.1 million,” Mr Cutter said.

Belchers Corner still no progress

“Approximately $1.2 million was spent on stabilisation, reporting and monitoring of the

building throughout 2018 and 2019. The demolition process cost approximately $2.9 million.

“The city continues to seek full recovery of the expenses incurred, due to the owners’ corporation’s failure to comply with multiple building and emergency orders.

“We are focused on recouping costs through all appropriate legal avenues.

An owner of a business who previously operated from Belchers Corner and is still part of the owners’ corporation said she wanted the issues resolved but would not reveal what was in contention.

Belchers Corner pre-demolition. Picture: Alan Barber

“As a part of the whole thing we have to maintain a certain level of confidentiality at this point,” the owner said. “I look forward to the site’s future being sorted out.”

The owners’ corporation previous administrator Robert Evans was dismissed last year by VCAT as it grappled with mounting debt of more than $5m.

Scotia Property Maintenance Group applied to have Mr Evans ousted and claimed he had run the owners corporation into “financial ruin.”

The owners corporation argued Mr Evans’ tenure should be extended beyond its February 25 expiration date.

Scotia, initially employed to provide props for the doomed building, is owed more than $300,000 by the corporation after successfully taking it to the County Court in 2018.

In VCAT documents, Scotia stated it was owed an additional $34,000 in interest.

VCAT found Mr Evans should be removed because he had failed to clearly communicate with some owner, been unable to stem the flow of financial losses as quickly and effectively and

had not completed tasks more than two years after the due date.

The corporations current administrator Matt Twiselton from Excel Owners Services was unavailable for comment.

Originally published as Belchers Corner owners corp woes continue, as city reveals it is owed $4m