A GRIFFITH building with approval to operate as the city's first ever legal brothel is on the market, in what has been described as "a sad day for Griffith".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Australia's only real estate agent dedicated to selling brothels, Doug Nicholas, has listed the Hams Street building on his website brothelsforsale.com.
Griffith City Council spent $15,500 fighting the brothel in the NSW Land and Environment Court in late 2011, after refusing the development application twice because it was within 200 metres of a dance studio used by mostly teenage girls.
However, the court found in favour of proponent Sky Night Angels, paving the way for a business to trade in prostitution on the site.
While the building requires industry-specific refurbishments by the new owner, Mr Nicholas said it posed a lucrative opportunity for an entrepreneurial local because there were enough local women to make it successful.
He also insisted the industry had an unfounded reputation for crime and violence.
"Have you ever seen a guy want to go and punch someone in the nose right after having sex?
"People think there's lot of troubles associated with them (brothels), but there are so many security cameras, except in the working rooms, that people know they'll make front page news if they do something wrong.
"There's regulations and there's a better environment than illegal brothels and the girls are in a workplace situation where they know there won't be a problem."
Mr Nichols is asking for $1.1 million for another brothel business in Wagga, which he claimed had a net return of $110,000 per annum and a long lease.
Father Andrew Grace from Sacred Heart Catholic Church said brothels eroded family values and passionately opposed the sale.
"Brothels destroy families because they promote promiscuity and a promiscuous society," Fr Grace said.
"Anything to promote that is a sad day for our community and I definitely do not want to see a brothel established in Griffith.
"It denigrates women who are made in the image and likeness of God."