The Barr government has reversed its decision to sell Dickson Ambulance Station and the Moore Street community health building, after determining the sale would not be cost effective.
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The government has also revealed the sale of the former Macarthur House site will not be completed in time to cash in on the Commonwealth's asset recycling scheme due to changes required in the territory plan, but will proceed anyway.
The ACT had until June 1, 2019 to sell off ageing assets in order to get a 15 per cent bonus on top of the sale price from the Commonwealth government.
The agreement, reached in 2015, was expected to generate about $60 million on top of the sales revenue for buildings like Dickson Motor Registry.
The money was to be used for the first stage of the light rail project and to spawn urban renewal throughout the city. But the sale of the old Macarthur House site will not meet the deadline due to the changes to building heights, setbacks and landscape zones proposed in the The City and Gateway Urban Design Framework.
Federal assistant territories minister Sussan Ley only just approved the final set of planning rules for the framework, which include raising building height limits on Northbourne Avenue and the Federal Highway to help pave the way for more than 37,000 new dwellings.
The site will still be released to the market by the end of this financial year, an ACT government spokeswoman said.
But the sale of the ambulance station and the health building have also been deemed unnecessary, after the ACT made more than expected on the sales.
The territory is tipped to bring in more than the $447 million anticipated in the 2016 asset recycling schedule. The final figure will be known later in the year.
The Commonwealth capped its contribution to $67.14 million, and the ACT spokeswoman said the territory expected to receive that entire amount even without the sale of the last three properties.
But there were other factors in deciding not to sell the other two assets.
"After considering estimated costs associated with relocating critical government services from the Community Health building and the Dickson Ambulance Station, the ACT government has decided that selling them would not be cost effective," the spokeswoman said.
Asked what will happen to the ambulance station and the health building, she said: "They will continue to operate as they do now."
Other assets sold off under the scheme to date include ACTTAB, the tourism information centre, Lyneham Flats and Gowrie Court.
Stuart Flats went under the hammer in March, with the four separate blocks selling for a total of $63.87 million.
The spokeswoman said settlement was on track to be completed in the coming months.