Boarding house The Gatwick set for new life as a hotel

Notorious St Kilda boarding house The Gatwick is set to become an upmarket hotel, with groups in the final stages of negotiation over its sale.

Agents for the property confirmed multiple groups were performing due diligence on the property as it awaits a new life after six decades as a destination for some of Melbourne’s most vulnerable and troubled people.

Selling agent Jonathan Walls, from Lemon Baxter, says a final sale is imminent, with hoteliers expected to buy and revamp the infamous Fitzroy St building.

“Surveyors have been appointed to go through the property to make sure it’s going to configure the way they want to it to be configured,” Walls says.

The entrance foyer at Melbourne boarding house The Gatwick Hotel.

“We’re just going through that process at the moment with a couple of groups.”

“It’s all hotel (developers). That’s what the building lends itself best to, it’s too hard to convert to anything else, so that’s what it’s going to be.”

The Gatwick is heritage listed, complicating any plans to redevelop and refurbish the three-storey boarding house and basement.

The property was put on the market late last year by twin sister owners and operators Yvette Kelly and Rose Banks.

One of The Gatwick’s 66 rooms, which are expected to be turned into hotel accommodation.

Kelly and Banks took ownership of the building after the death of their mother Victoria Carbone, who set up the 66-room facility in the 1950s.

The Gatwick has been a magnet for crime throughout its existence, with a storied history that includes murders and other deaths, as well as drugs and violence.

Realcommercial.com.au last year reported the property was expected to fetch between $12 million and $14 million.

The hotel’s sale comes with vacant possession but an extended settlement of period of 12 months, to allow its many permanent residents to find alternative accommodation.