By Tate Papworth
The site of the former Calder Rise Primary School sold at auction for $8.2 million last Wednesday.
The buyer has not been revealed, but speculation is that the land was purchased by a large-scale aged care provider.
A large crowd gathered to watch the much-talked about parcel of land go under the hammer.
The auction, which attracted four bidders, ends a long-running push for the land to be kept for community use.
The school was closed in 2009.
Councillor Virginia Tachos has long advocated for the land to be kept in the community and said she was upset by the outcome.
“It’s a great disappointment that Calder Rise and five, in total, school sites were sold in Brimbank.
“These were community-owned assets in the first place paid for by taxes on our community. This already publicly-owned land should have stayed in community hands for future generations.
“Vale Calder Rise.”
However not everyone was upset by the outcome.
Melbourne Auction Company auctioneer Paul Tzamalis said despite a dip in the market, rare opportunities such as the site will always attract buyers.
“The vendor took the recent dip in the market into consideration, but they had a firm view on what the value was and were happy to hold it until the right buyer came along,” he said.
“I dare say via public auction you might get the chance to buy one a year, private sale maybe two a year. They just don’t come up because most of the land has already been built. It was a very rare opportunity.”
“They exceeded their reserve price by $200,000 which showed the auction process worked, the vendors are happy and the buyers are happy as well.”
