Former ABC Childcare sites on sale

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THREE of Bundaberg's former ABC Learning Childcare centres are up for grabs, with the empty buildings at Bundaberg South, Bundaberg North and Avoca on the market.

“They are up for sale or lease individually or as group lots,” Jones Lang LaSalle sales and investments negotiator Sam Hatcher said.

Some of the buildings have been empty for more than a year, as tenants ABC Childcare started to struggle before the company's spectacular failure late last year.

Fund managers Austock Property Management have called for expressions of interest (EOI) for the sites, in an effort to maximise the return for owners who include the listed Australian Education Trust and two other real estate funds.

While the EOI application process closes on March 25, Mr Hatcher said there had already been interest shown.

“There has been a few offers, from local and statewide groups,” he said.

Meanwhile, the March 31 deadline looms for the Bundaberg East and Bargara centres which have been kept open with government assistance and face an uncertain future.

After a false start last month when its application to take over the leases fell through, YMCA is back in the running to operate the still-open centres.

“They came back to us and said we were just too relevant to withdraw our offer, so we are in discussions again,” Bundaberg YMCA chief executive officer Ian Rowan said.

“At a national level, YMCA is talking with the receiver about approximately 50 centres across Australia, including Bundaberg East and Bargara.”

He said it was too early to predict what would happen, but the discussions were ongoing.