Carlton's Corkman Irish Pub owners fined $1.325 million for illegal demolition
The developers charged over the illegal demolition of the Corkman, a 160-year-old Melbourne pub have been fined $1.325 million plus costs, after pleading guilty to breaching building and planning laws.
The Corkman Irish Pub in Carlton was illegally demolished in October 2016.
The magistrate Ross Maxted said only a big penalty would deter others.
Last year they were also fined nearly $600,000 by the EPA for illegally dumping asbestos debris from the demolition on a construction site surrounded by homes at Cairnlea, in Melbourne's north-west.
Developer Raman Shaqiri and his company 160 Leicester Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in May last year after knocked down the Corkman without building or planning approval.
The company's other director, Stefce Kutlesovski, pleaded guilty to charges in January this year.
Magistrate Ross Maxted fined the company $850,000, while Shaqiri and Kutlesovski were fined $220,000 and $255,000 respectively.
Magistrate Maxted described the pair's behaviour as "reprehensible."
The Corkman Irish Pub last sold for $4.76 million, $1.56 million above its 2014 auction reserve.
Located at 154-160 Leicester Street in the inner city fringe suburb of Carlton, the historic two storey pub, formerly the Carlton Inn, is located on a prime 456 square metre corner site.
The pub is directly across the road from the University of Melbourne law school.
There were five bidders vying to buy the Corkman Irish Pub which is a traditional food and beverage venue with public bar, bistro dining, courtyard and first floor hostel accommodation.
The pub had been with the same owner since it last traded in 1987 for $900,000.
"The penalties will be imposed to deter such speculative and base mercantile thinking and behaviour."
After the demolition the developer duo committed "unequivocally" to rebuild the pub in a 2016 letter to planning minister Richard Wynne.
But the magistrate noted no building application had been lodged.
"The company has not taken steps to honour that," Magistrate Maxted noted.