Lorna Jane Leases Hundredth Store in Little Collins Street

WOMENS activewear retailer Lorna Jane has chosen a former city boutique to establish its hundredth store.

Established in 1989 by businesswoman Lorna Jane Clarkson, the retailer is embarking on an aggressive growth strategy, saying it wants to open another 25 stores nationally this year.

The 111 square metre shop at 267 Little Collins Street (pictured, right) was recently vacated by Pierucci.

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Dexus Proposes Major New Little Collins Street Office, Melbourne

SYDNEY-based fund manager Dexus Property Group has lodged plans to build a 15-level, 25,000 square metre office building on a forecourt behind its prominent 360 Collins Street office tower in the Melbourne CBD – near the popular Zuffa cafe (pictured).

The proposed new development would be bound by Little Collins Street, Briscoe Lane, and Collins Way, and its office occupants would stare down the McKillop Street restaurant and retail strip.

It could go some way to putting Little Collins Street “on the map” as a major corporate boulevard like part-namesake Collins Street.

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End of the Road For Naval and Military Club Building

IT MUST be with a great deal of despondency former members of the recently defunct Naval & Military Club “keep under surveillance” what is happening at their former headquarters, at 27 Little Collins Street, Melbourne.

The mission-brown building was sold by receivers to Chinese developers during the economic downturn, and after a series of legal disputes prevented the NMC organising a joint venture partner to redevelop the site into a club room, hotel and apartment tower.

NMC’s proposed redevelopment was expected to save its future – and indeed give it an income stream which could have allowed it to grow.

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Becton sells Melbourne office

EAST Melbourne based developer and fund manager Becton is understood to have sold another office asset, this time in the CBD.

Becton is speculated to have reaped about $18 million from the sale of 422 Little Collins Street. On that assumed figure, the group made a loss on the $22.2 million it paid Vicland for the asset four years ago.

The eight-level, 5246 square metre building is 98 per cent leased, with education service provider Cambridge International College the largest tenant. The asset returned almost $1.7 million per annum in rent, and is understood to have sold to a private investor.

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Becton lists 422 Little Collins St

422 Little Collins StreetDEVELOPER and fund manager Becton is still in a selling mood.

This time, the East Melbourne-based group is offloading a Little Collins Street office building it bought from Vicland for $22.2 million in September 2006.

The 422 Little Collins Street office is expected to fetch about $17.5 million this time around, reflecting a yield of about 10 per cent based on the assets approximate annual income of $1.75 million.

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Apartments at Naval and Military Club Redevelopment Hit the Market

THE Paris end of the Melbourne CBD is set to see the construction of a new apartment skyscraper.

The former Naval & Military Club at 27 Little Collins Street will be demolished and replaced with a 32-level tower, targeting two types of high-end buyers.

Levels 15 to 25 of the new building will include 142 apartments priced from $385,000 for a one-bedroom, and $580,000 for two-bedroom apartments.

Larger, luxury apartments will be developed between levels 26 and 30, where one bedroom flats start at $590,000 and two-bedroom apartments, from $1.087 million.

A penthouse occupies the highest floors, while the lowest 14-levels will trade as a hotel, flanked by ground floor shops.

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