Pontian Community of Melbourne sells its Brunswick building

People enjoying themselves at an old Pontian event. Photo: Supplied

Pontian Community of Melbourne President Apostolos Alexiadis confirmed that the Brunswick building at 345 Victoria Street is up for sale.

The building, created to promote Pontian culture and host events, has been important for the community over the last decades.

“It is true that the building is planned to go to auction on 16 December,” Mr Alexiadis told Neos Kosmos. 

He said that the decision to sell the property was decided by members at the General Meeting for two main reasons. “The structure needs a full renovation,” he said. “We asked for quotes and were told that half a million dollars would be needed for the renovation. Meanwhile, annual expenditure comes to $30,000. We have no revenue so we decided to sell.”

Mr Alexiadis said that the sale will depend on what bids amount to, however he did not disclose an expected amount. It is estimated that the price will be over four million dollars.

Mr Alexiadis said that the Pontian Community is debt-free and the money yielded during the sale will be used to buy another building.

“We would prefer one with shops to rent so that we can have permanent revenue,” he said, adding that during the pandemic, for a long time, the community was not operating as “COVID-19 had struck everyone and everything”.

“It only has expenditures,” Mr Alexiadis said of the building, however said that a government COVID-19 grant “was salvation” for the group.