The historic red brick ambulance station on Johnston Street is back in the community's hands following a long-awaited agreement, however a passionate fight to have the building given back for free has ended in disappointment.
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Wagga City Council has agreed to pay "several hundred thousand dollars" to the NSW Government to purchase the heritage building, as part of plans to transform it into a thriving business and community hub.
The building, which has been vacant for the past four years, was initially gifted to the state government by the Wagga community for $1 back in the 1920s.
Former mayor Greg Conkey has fought tooth and nail to have the building returned to the community free of charge and admitted the costly fee made the purchase bittersweet.
"It's a sweet day because this facility will remain in the community's hands but I am bitterly disappointed that the government has charged the ratepayers of this city a substantial amount of money to purchase this building," he said.
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Mr Conkey vowed to continue fighting and has written to the NSW Premier asking for the payment to be refunded to Wagga City Council.
Wagga MP Joe McGirr said the building was sold to the council for about 50 per cent of its true value.
"It's fair to say we're both disappointed we couldn't have it handed back to the community ... but the state government did give it at a substantial discount," Dr McGirr said.
Wagga City Council also fought to bring down the cost of the building but mayor Dallas Tout said discussions reached a point where "it was buy it or lose it".
He believes securing the purchase and saving the historic building from being sold off to private buyers who could demolish it was the correct decision.
"There are some beautiful parts to this building and saving that history of this part of the city from nearly 100 years ago is critical," Cr Tout said.
The mayor said minor works including painting and carpeting will be undertaken but the vast majority of the building will remain the same.
Wagga City Council expect to begin calling for expressions of interest from community groups who wish to set up shop in the building next week.
Cr Tout said multiple parties have already expressed an interest in moving in, including local artists and business groups.
Council's director of regional activation Michael Keys expects a wide breadth of community groups to be interested.
He said council will base their decision on which groups will provide the biggest benefit to the community through the premises.
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