Goodbye Woden Tradies as Geocon buys site for $16m in town centre expansion
Canberra developer Geocon plans to redevelop the Woden Tradies Club site into one of its trademark high- rise apartment precincts after buying the property for $16 million. The Tradies Group accepted an unsolicited offer for the site, which is bounded by Launceston Street , Melrose Drive and Furzer Street in Phillip and occupied by the club, Quality Hotel and an adjacent car park . Chief executive Rob Docker said the decision to offload the property and close the club and hotel was made with a heavy heart but the Woden club had found it very difficult to make ends meet and would now close in January. “The club has found it very difficult, given its size, to compete with the Hellenic Club and Southern Cross Club in that location,” he said. The Woden Tradies has been part of the area’s entertainment and hospitality scene for nearly 50 years since it opened in 1969. But its membership of a little more than 10,000 is dwarfed by that of the other clubs. They will be absorbed by the si...