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Channel 9 has finally confirmed it has bought The Gatwick Hotel — after months of rumours, and title documents indicating the sale last week.
THE Gatwick Hotel will be transformed on an upcoming season of The Block, after Channel 9 finally confirmed it had bought the notorious rooming house.
The show’s executive producer Julian Cress said today that he “could confirm the purchase of The Gatwick for a future series of The Block”.
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Channel 9 said it did not have “any schedule yet on when filming is likely to commence” and would not comment on further details, including why the reno show picked the notorious St Kilda property and how much was paid for it.
“The network likes to try to keep an element of surprise for our contestants and viewers,” a spokeswoman said.
It’s understood the sale price was in the vicinity of the $15 million-plus sought by the hotel’s owners, sisters Yvette Kelly and Rose Banks, who listed it for sale in December 2015.
This makes the property the most expensive ever purchased for The Block, costing about $10 million more than last season’s Port Melbourne site at 164 Ingles St.
The Gatwick has a seedy reputation. Picture: Christopher ChanSource:News Corp Australia
The confirmation follows months of rumours that the network had been eyeing the heritage building as a project for the popular show.
Title documents indicated the sale last week, with a caveat placed on the Fitzroy St property by the Channel 9-owned company “Micjoy Pty Ltd”, but the network had not commented on the deal until today.
The 79-year-old rooming house won’t feature on the next season of The Block — it appears a 2989sq m vacant block on Regent St, Elsternwick has been picked for that.
Channel 9 has not officially confirmed this, but five old houses have already been moved on to the $9.6 million site and producers of the show have contacted Regent St residents to alert them of the upcoming works.
Mr Cress told Fairfax that the network would not start filming at The Gatwick until all of its residents had been rehomed, and that the TV reno would preserve the building’s historic facade.
City of Port Phillip mayor Bernadene Voss said the council welcomed both these commitments, and would be meeting with the show’s producers to “share our ideas about how the skills of The Block team can be harnessed to improve and grow affordable housing” in the area.
About 45 people were told to leave the 80-bed rooming house earlier this month.
St Kilda Community Housing has already found homes for about a dozen people and expected to find long-term housing solutions in the St Kilda area for the rest area by midyear, chief executive John Enticott said.
Last year’s The Block contestants, with the show’s host Scott Cam. Photo: Martin PhilbeySource:Supplied
Buyer’s advocates Frank Valentic of Advantage Property Consulting and Nicole Jacobs of Nicole Jacobs Property — both regulars on The Block — expect a transformed Gatwick to be strongly sought by wealthy investors.
Mr Valentic said if the building was transformed into five to six luxury apartments, as was standard for the program, they would fetch “$2.5 million every day of the week”.
Ms Jacobs said the project would be a “goldmine” for Block contestants.
“People love a bit of history and drama. From that point of view, it ticks all the boxes,” she said.
Both said the building’s location — flanked by public transport and cafes and close to the beach, Albert Park Lake and the CBD — would be its biggest drawcard.
Originally published as 9 finally confirms it’s bought The Gatwick