A community campaign to buy the iconic Dancing Dog Café building in Footscray is off to a flying start with more than $45,000 already pledged.
The Pozible crowdfunding campaign to buy the building for community use raised more than $30,000 on its launch day last Thursday and has tipped over the $46,000 mark on Wednesday.
Our earlier report: Footscray: Campaign to save Dancing Dog Cafe building
But the campaign faces stiff competition, according to Biggin & Scott agent Matthew Alderman.
Mr Alderman said there has been “a pretty amazing” response to the sale of 42A Albert Street.
“We have been smashed with inquiries, mostly from developers but also a lot of people looking to live in the upstairs level.”
Mr Alderman said he hoped the community campaign would succeed and the building would be kept in its current form, but the race to raise enough funds by the April 18 auction would be a difficult one.
“I think this is a fantastic initiative. I would love to see this happen, but it looks like they will need to raise in excess of $1.5 million.”
Yarraville writer Maxine Beneba Clarke, who set one of the stories from her award-winning short story collection Foreign Soil in the building, said she chose the location for both its historical and contemporary prominence in the area.
She said the building once supported Footscray’s workers as the home of the United Friendly Societies Dispensary, and now it hosted the Big West Festival and regular events, such as Westword poetry readings.
“The majestic Dancing Dog building sits in the heart of Footscray’s artistic community,” she said.
Campaign organiser Katerina Gaita said, whatever happened, the campaign could be considered a success, unearthing wonderful stories and bringing the community together.
“The more momentum we get behind this the more chance there is of succeeding or of some white knight coming in and saving the building,” she said.
More details are at www.pozible.com/buythedog.
