Local residents are banding together to form the Castlemaine Community Co-operative with the goal of purchasing and preserving Castlemaine’s historic building, ‘The Hub’.
The co-operative will enable community ownership of the building, on the corner of Barker and Templeton Streets, through collective investment.
The founders of the new co-operative invite interested community members to a public meeting to discuss the concept at the Castlemaine Town Hall on Wednesday September 13.
Local economist and co-operative co-founder Warwick Smith said ‘The Hub’ was an iconic building in town that many people had a personal association with.
“We are nervous about it falling into the hands of a commercial investor whose only interest is maximising returns,” Mr Smith said.
Currently for sale, The Hub hosts 13 tenants including environmental, community and social organisations, small businesses, and a cafe. There is also a thriving community garden.
The co-operative founders told the Express they admired the initiative of The Hub founders, Heather and Neil Barrett, and they wanted to see their community health building legacy continue.
The founders are particularly concerned about the community garden and its supported projects being lost to potential future development of the space by an outside investor.
Co-operatives are a democratic structure that allows members of a community to come together and meet local needs. Similar models elsewhere in Victoria have allowed communities to purchase and manage assets for the benefit of the whole community.
At the Town Hall meeting, the co-operative founders will explain the concept and invite expressions of interest from potential member-investors.
Fellow co-founder Angus Gratton said funding the purchase from community members kept the co-operative independent from control by a bank or single investor.
“It also ensures that our efforts prioritise the community over profit extraction,” he said.
“At the same time we plan to offer a stable and competitive investment return in exchange for financial support.”
The founders hope that in the future this model can expand to help address other issues such as affordable housing.
“We want to start a process of community wealth building,” said co-founder Mark Esparza.
“This means more local ownership, more of our money staying in the community and greater opportunity for local residents.”
Co-founder Dean Podger said they had met with each of The Hub tenants and had had some positive discussions.
All are welcome to attend the public meeting at 5.30pm. To learn more, visit castlemaine.coop
