Melbourne’s iconic Skipping Girl Vinegar sign could be removed from the skyline

For more than 80 years Victorians have gazed up at the neon skipping girl sign in Abbotsford, but now its future is up in the air as the place it calls home is put up for sale.

Iconic neon girl may need to find a new home.

Melbourne’s iconic Skipping Girl Vinegar sign could be removed from the city’s skyline.

The home of the sign — known as Little Audrey — at 651 Victoria St, Abbotsford, known as Skipping Girl Vinegar Place, is being sold with expectations it will skip past $20 million.

For more than 80 years the neon animated sign has been a part of Melbourne’s skyline.

Yesterday proponents of the sale revealed while heritage protected, there is flexibility in where it is positioned.

The iconic Skipping Girl Vinegar sign may be relocated as Little Audrey goes under the hammer.

Vantage Property Investments own seven of the 10 titles contained in the former factory turned office space, and executive director Hamish de Crespigny said with the site’s potential for redevelopment, it was possible the sign could move.

“The sign has to be incorporated into something on that site, or elsewhere on the street,” Mr de Crespigny said.

“You can move it up the building, so long as there are sufficient lines of sight. You could put it at street level.”

Heritage Victoria yesterday confirmed the sign could be relocated with their approval.

City of Yarra mayor Misha Coleman said she hoped the integrity of the sign would be maintained.

The sign has been an iconic feature in the skyline for 80 years.

Set four-stories high the animated neon sign is a replica erected in 1970, heritage listed in 2007 and restored in 2009.

The original was located atop the original Skipping Girl Vinegar factory at 627 Victoria St from 1934.

CBRE and Colliers International will manage the sale.

Colliers International’s Peter Bremner said it was expected to draw offshore interest, as well as local land-banking developers and could be turned into homes “down the track”.

The property’s size would preclude it from a similar overhaul to the Nylex Clock in Cremorne, another of Melbourne’s iconic signs, which is being transformed into a commercial and residential precinct dubbed The Malt District by the Caydon Property Group.

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Mr Bremner estimated offers would be made between $23-$25 million for the property after Vantage and three other owners at the site joined forces to sell the building as a whole.

CBRE’s Josh Rutman said Yarra River frontage would add to the appeal.

“We expect wide-ranging interest in Skipping Girl Place, given Little Audrey’s iconic status, and the location and potential of the site,” Mr Rutman said.

Buyers will have until March 20 to make an offer.