Infamous cell block at Pentridge Prison up for grabs
One of Melbourne’s most infamous prison buildings – where the ghost of Mark “Chopper” Read is said to haunt, and where Ronald Ryan, the last person to be legally executed in Australia in 1967, served part of his remand – is for sale seeking owner occupiers, or investors, who may consider opening it as a unique hospitality venue.
The 167-year old bluestone Division D building of Coburg’s former Pentridge Prison – which closed in 1997 and is now being turned into a medium-density residential village – is asking $4.5 million.
The price buys a building with “enormous character” and “unlimited potential”, according to the selling agency. Office users, hoteliers and backpacker operators are on the radar. Retailers and restaurateurs are expected to consider buying, or later leasing, the unique space, too.
The bluestone building had some infamous inmates in its time. Photo: Supplied
On the corner of Wardens Walk South and Urquart Street, the building is on a busy walking track used by residents to access shops and public transport around the nearby corner of Bell Street and Sydney Road (considered by agents to be Coburg’s epicentre).
A café operates nearby to the ex-D Division building, which Killen Thomas director John Camilleri is marketing for private sale. A childcare centre is being fitted out in another historic building close by.
Over two levels and with a distinctive dome roof to let in light, the building, an ex-remand centre, is configured with 200 cells, most of which were occupied by prisoners, around a long corridor, and an outdoor area – a former exercise yard.
Once available for party bookings, the jailhouse is currently used for ghost tours. It is also listed on Film Victoria’s website as a set for hire.
Backpacker operators are among several groups already interested in the unusual building. Photo: Supplied
Previous Division D building redevelopment plans would have seen cells opened, to include restaurant and bar spaces and a brewery.
Historically, the building housed some of the state’s most notorious prisoners while they awaited sentencing. According to interviews from previous inmates, an average of one prisoner per month committed suicide while at the building.
More than 30 bodies – including remains said to belong to former bushranger Ned Kelly who was hanged at Old Melbourne Gaol in 1880 – were exhumed from the immediate vicinity of the Division D building when it was being prepared for residential redevelopment a decade ago.
The redevelopment of the former prison, sometimes nicknamed “the bluestone college” has not been without its controversy. Initially proposed to be a combination of standalone houses, townhouses and low-to-medium rise apartment complexes – developers have in recent years proposed the suburb’s tallest buildings on portions of Pentridge land.
Two years ago, a proposed 19-level structure was rejected by the local council, with then state Federal MP Kelvin Thompson weighing in to the local planning controversy, describing buildings the height of this proposal as potentially being a “slum of the future”.
“If this project goes through, everyone else says ‘Why can’t I build one? and you end up with Shanghai”, Mr Kelvin said following the Air Apartments application by the Shayher Group.
However, a high-density project was recently approved containing 250 flats in two towers – the tallest at 17 storeys. The site at 35 Urquart Street was subsequently sold last year with a planning scheme in place to increase the number of dwellings to 334. Some apartments in this proposed complex will overlook the Division D building.
This article has been amended to correct details regarding Ned Kelly’s death.
