Swanson St’s iconic Nicholas Building goes on sale

Last sold for $2.8 million in 1973, the iconic property is a 10-storey ode to Chicago’s art deco movement. Featuring two street-level showrooms, the Nicholas Building was originally designed by Harry Norris and has housed hundreds of tenants since its construction in 1926.

As per the property listing for the site, “the Nicholas Building combines history and character in an iconic location making it one of, if not Melbourne’s most famous building”.

“Even if people don’t know it by name, almost everyone in the city passes by and shops at the Nicholas Building daily.”

Located at 37 Swanson Street, the Nicholas Building is currently owned by a number of private companies and being marketed by Allard Shelton and Colliers International.

A stone’s throw from Melbourne’s newly renovated Town Hall Station, the Nicholas Building is predicted to sell at a price upwards of $80 million.

Over the years, the Nicholas Building has also hosted parts of local arts events like Melbourne’s Festival of Independents.

The sale comes only a few months after the nearby Invicta and Tomasetti Houses changed hands.

According to the Nicholas Building Association, “The Nicholas Building is still a bustling cultural hub filled with an extraordinary array of talented creative people. A place where anything and everything can happen, and usually does.”

The organisation has launched a campaign to try and save the building.

“The Nicholas Building Association is campaigning to ensure that whoever buys the building buys it with us – that they, too, recognise the value of Melbourne’s most unique and diverse creative business community, the city’s only artist- and creative-led cultural offering of this scale,” Nicholas Building Association (NBA) spokesperson Dario Vacirca told The Australian Arts Review.

“We have support for a business case from the City of Melbourne, and are in discussions with government and the philanthropic sector. This is an extraordinary – and urgent – opportunity for Melbourne to invest in its future.”

Speaking to nestegg, Smart Property Investment’s sister brand, NBA spokesperson Andrew Bason said the organisation is prepared to work with whoever ultimately buys the property but insisted “this is not a bleeding heart story”.

“There’s an economic, pure economic argument for keeping a vertical credit precinct of 100+ creatives in the middle of the city.”

Mr Bason said the building “has an economic footprint. It affects visitation to the city through tourism. It affects the quality of life for locals. Melbourne post-COVID is on its knees in terms of sense of vitality. It creates actual work, actual commerce and direct economic benefits. It has a cultural dimension to it, which has its own social dimension. So, if your economic equation factors all those values, there’s an actual economic argument for this community being in this building going forward”.