The Elsternwick studio where iconic Australian music TV show Countdown was filmed has been listed for sale for a second time.
A bid by the ABC to sell the lot in 2018 failed, Real Commercial reports, amidst a campaign to heritage list the property, joined by Countdown host Molly Meldrum. The former ABC studio at 8 Gordon Street was ultimately not heritage listed, with several offers from developers falling through for undisclosed reasons.
The studio was built by the ABC in the 1950s and was in use until 2017, hosting a number of the public broadcaster’s best known programs including Spicks and Specks, Kath and Kim, Frontline, and early seasons of Mad As Hell.
Savills state director Clinton Baxter, who will manage the sale, told Real Commercial there is a possibility heritage-listing campaigners could purchase the property.
“Everything is possible for that sort of property, but whether they (those looking to save the studios) have the buyer power to out-compete the others, time will tell,” he said.
“It’s a huge parcel of land, the most significant metropolitan landholding to hit the market in Melbourne in 2021. It will attract a huge variety of interest from different buyers.”
Baxter estimated to the publication that the studio could sell for more than $20 million. He also said prospective developers were looking at turning it into apartments, aged care, a school or a hospital.