Melbourne's Daily Planet brothel for auction

Australia’s most famous brothel, the Daily Planet, in Elsternwick in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, is up for auction.

The bordello, founded by John Trimble in 1975, made history in 2003 when its holding company, Planet Platinum, became the first sex industry business to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

It also owned King Street strip club Showgirls Bar 20, which was recently sold for $13.25 million to Rialto Tower owners.

The Daily Planet building, which continues to operate as a licensed brothel, is expected to fetch more than $7 million at its November 18 auction.

The property at 7-12 Horne Street stands on a 829 square metre block.

It will be auctioned alongside two neighbouring properties providing the potential for an apartment development.

The third property, at 15 Horne Street, is a privately-owned warehouse unrelated to Planet Platinum. 

All three properties are being marketed by Alex Ham, Benjamin Klein and Michael Gross, of Gross Waddell, with Mr Ham telling the Australian Financial Review the buyer would “most likely be a developer”.

“The Daily Planet is still operating as brothel and will be a brothel up until the day of the auction. After that it’s up to the new owner if they wish to continue the licence agreement,” he said.