Nicola Forrest buys Fremantle Trades Hall as new headquarters and civic space

The iconic Fremantle Trades Hall has been purchased by billionaire philanthropist Nicola Forrest, who will use it as her business headquarters and to stage community events.

Nailing her colours to the port city’s mast, Mrs Forrest will move her staff to the $7.35 million building following a redevelopment to remove the pool and bedrooms, creating more space for meeting rooms, conferences and public events.

It marks a substantial boost to Mrs Forrest’s growing Fremantle footprint, which now includes at least five heritage sites through her private company Coaxial and her co-owned Tattarang.

The purchase ends the building’s 17-year period as a private space, returning parts of it to the public realm.

“Coaxial is proud to become the new custodian of the Fremantle Trades Hall — a landmark with deep roots in the social and civic life of Fremantle, and one we take seriously,” a spokesman for Coaxial said.

“This acquisition establishes a permanent base for Coaxial as we build our team and progress our initial pipeline of work across Western Australia and nationally.

“As an organisation, we focus on connecting capital, ideas and communities to deliver practical outcomes, and having a home in Fremantle supports that ambition.

“A key priority for us is ensuring the building continues to be used by the community. We are actively exploring how the upper level can host events, arts and cultural programming, and forums that bring people together.

“This will not be a closed or private space — our intention is for the building to remain active, accessible and part of Fremantle’s community life.”

The property sold for $7.35m to Mrs Forrest’s 888 Holdings Pty Ltd.

The businesswoman already owns the 137-year old Terminus Hotel building, which she bought for $4.95m in December 2024.

Tattarang — the company she owns with ex-husband Andrew — also owns Fremantle’s Bar Orient, a heritage building on Phillimore St and the Spicer Hotel carpark, which has approved plans for a $35m boutique hotel.

Fremantle Trades Hall has enjoyed a rich and varied history since WA’s first Premier, Sir John Forrest, laid the foundation stone 125 years ago.

The Federation property maintains the triple 8 motif on its grand façade — testament to the labour movement’s quest for eight hours work, sleep and leisure.

But by the 1960s the hall was more closely associated with late night parties, where teens would fill the halls of the then-named Old Trades Music Hall to dance to rock and roll — an act of rebellion against reigning stars like Doris Day and Frank Sinatra.

By the wild 1980s, the building was once again the centre of controversy, as a hub for the orange-robed Rajneesh cult. For a few years they operated a restaurant called Zorba the Buddha at the venue.

Its next incarnation was as an elegant and stylish Italian bar and restaurant, La Maschere Club, which hosted many famous names during the America’s Cup, and had rave reviews from as far afield as Los Angeles.

By 2002 it had become part of the Esplanade Hotel and was used as a convention centre.

In 2009 it was converted into a private residence owned by Peter Medich through Parkway Holdings.