A crowd of about 50 community members turned out to the public meeting convened by the newly formed Castlemaine Community Co-operative at Castlemaine Town Hall last Wednesday night.
The co-operative aims to set up a dedicated not-for-profit organisation with the goal of purchasing Castlemaine’s historic building ‘The Hub’ and retaining its tenants many of which have a sustainability, community health or wellbeing focus and the community garden.
The meeting aimed to gauge the broader community interest in the concept and whether there was enough support to progress the project.
Interested local residents were welcomed by co-founder and local economist Warwick Smith who outlined how the initiative began and the work undertaken to reach that point.
Mr Smith said the co-operative was formed by a like-minded group of local residents who were concerned The Hub’s community benefit would be at risk if it was purchased by a commercial investor.
The co-operative will enable community ownership of the building, on the corner of Barker and Templeton Streets, through collective investment with the group needing to raise around $2M to make the project a reality.
The intention is to preserve the current tenancies, keep rents affordable, keep the community garden thriving, and potentially reinvest in growing community wealth or future projects such as affordable housing.
Under the current proposal, members buy and own shares for the amount they invest. The goal of member investment is always community wealth not individual profit but the group have budgeted to pay a potential four per cent return to investors.
Co-founder Mark Esparza said he spent 20 years running restaurants in Okinawa, Japan, and saw many small businesses close their doors as foreign corporate investors bought up properties, and subsequently, the island had lost much of its unique identity and heart. He said he did not want to see Castlemaine and a community asset such as The Hub suffer the same fate.
The group has explored a number of options for the potential structure of the co-operative and member investment. Their next step is to consult with co-operative law experts and choose the best option.
This consultation could cost as much as $15,000 therefore the founders are now seeking expressions of interest from community members who may like to contribute to the future co-operative.
To find out more about the project or submit an expression of interest, visit castlemaine.coop
