A city block in West Melbourne - the scene of a suspicious fire that severely damaged the TLC Digital/Signarama print business less than two weeks ago - is up for sale and being advertised as 'ripe for development.'
Real estate sites have listed the Island Site in West Melbourne and called for expressions of interest before a closing date of Wednesday 15 June. The 79 Ireland Street property is described as:
Significant land area of 4,795 square metres
Standalone island site with four street frontages in excess 310m
Ripe for development (STCA)
Zoned mixed use
Unrivalled inner city location, in one of Melbourne's most gentrified areas
Category: Development / Land
Availability: Tenanted
Police are investigating the fire that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to the TLC Digital/Signarama business - one of three companies in the block.
Someone broke into the premises at 81-85 Ireland St before 8.45pm on Saturday, May 7 and set several fires in the Signarama section. A jerry can was found at the scene. Thirty firefighters in breathing gear took two hours to bring the blaze under control and issued a warning to residents about the threat of possible smoke inhalation. Victoria police are treating the fire as suspicious and appealed for help from anyone who witnessed unusual activity in the area on the night. They’re reviewing CCTV footage taken from the North Melbourne train station, opposite the factory.
“It wasn’t a random attack,” said TLC sales manager Anthony Arimatea. “They forced their way in and set fire to all of the recycled paper bins. We’ve lost all of the wide format equipment in the Signarama area, which was shared between the two businesses, and the rest of the machines have suffered a lot of soot and water damage. Some of the machines are just melted."
TLC’s satellite operation at Mordialloc in Melbourne’s south-east is running extra shifts to keep up with customer demand. The Mordialloc site is located at 51 DeHavilland Rd. Phone (03) 9580 8900 or email mordialloc@tlc.net.au
"We're trying to salvage as many clients as we can," said TLC owner Barry Webster. "Some of them may think they're doing us a favour by not giving us work right now but we really need as much work as we can get. We've got utes going backwards and forwards to Mordialloc and other factories trying to keep up with orders and the Signarama guys from other stores are also helping us out.
"The power is still off here and we're trying to clean up the mess and we're still waiting on word from the assessors about how much damage we're looking at.
"Developers have been around looking at the site," said Webster. "It's one of the last blocks of prime land around here and it's directly opposite the North Melbourne train station. I've heard talk that a residential development could be in the works."
Anyone with information about the fire is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.