Setback in club's bid to buy Dickson site

The ACT Government has refused to direct-sell the club group a key piece of land, the Badham Street car park.

Instead, the block will be sold off to the highest bidder, Treasurer Andrew Barr has confirmed, although the Tradies are free to line up with other potential purchasers in the auction process.

The Tradies group owns a garden centre, fitness centre, motel and club and the government-owned car park would have completed its ownership of the block in Badham Street.

But the direct-sale method of government land disposal has been controversial, with the property sector and supermarket operators saying it allows the Government to ''pick winners''.

The Tradies parent organisation the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has already received a direct sale for redeveloping its licensed club site at Phillip.

The Tradies planned to continue to use the Dickson land as a car park for the next five to 10 years before going ahead with a full revamp of the area.

That would have included a new car park, residential units, restaurants, an expanded club and hotel and the development of a small open space area at the intersection of Dickson Place and Badham Street.

But union ACT secretary Dean Hall said yesterday that he was disappointed the bid for a direct sale had failed.

''We thought we put in a very strong application for a direct sale which would have benefited the members of the Tradies, the Dickson Community and the wider ACT community,'' he said.

''We thought our proposal had a large public benefit but in the end it's a Government decision and we hope that they made the right decision.''

Mr Hall said the Government should make sure that whoever bought the car park should use the land to build on the shopping precinct's strengths.

''The important thing for us is that any development on that land should be done in a way that rejuvenated the Dickson shopping precinct,'' he said.

''Selling us that block would have allowed us to undertake a large-scale redevelopment project.''

Mr Hall said the club group was still committed to building a quality development in Dickson.

''We probably won't be able to deliver the outstanding development that we had in mind, so we're disappointed,'' he said.

''It will push our timeline back but we still have a commitment to Dickson and to the people of Dickson.''

Mr Barr said through a spokeswoman that it was Government policy to auction land ''wherever possible unless exceptional circumstances applied''.

''In this case, the Government decided to put the block to public auction,'' she said.