Auction Ending For Ansett Office Dispute

THE falling-out of two of Melbourne’s biggest private developers will be played out publicly at the end of the month when agents auction a landmark city office building – on court orders.

The imminent sale of the former Ansett headquarters at 501 Swanston Street (pictured, right), for a price expected to surpass $50 million, is also fascinating those within the real estate industry for being likely to smash the record price paid for a CBD office at auction.

Interestingly, each of the co-owning vendors of the building, Vince Giuliano, head of PDG Corporation, and Mario Salvo, director of Salvo Property Group, is expected to bid for full control of the asset.

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Flinders Street Development Site Sells After Auction

A PROBLEMATIC city development site with a permit sold after auction on Thursday for an as-yet undisclosed price.

The 556 – 560 Flinders Street property, at the north-west corner of Downie Street, has been earmarked over the years for a variety of developments, of varying heights.

At one stage a scheme was prepared for a 33-level commercial tower with 25-levels of strata office suites. Another proposal would have seen 101 apartments squeezed onto the 291 square metre block, opposite the new Northbank Place complex, between Spencer and King streets.

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Melbourne’s 206 Bourke Street Hits Market: $100 Million Expected

IT’S been a major department store, a flagship city-cinema complex and a problem development site. 

And now – 206 Bourke Street is set to be Melbourne’s next nine-figure offering.

Private developer Les Smith with joint venture partner Macquarie Bank are selling the major 3140 square metre city block known between 1985 and 2005 as the Village City Centre, and occupied by the cinema as offices until mid-2008.

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Historic Little Lon Terraces Offered For Sale Again

THE historic Little Lon terraces which last year made headlines when the owners applied to replace the properties with a 30-level apartment tower – have quietly hit the market again.

The adjoining terraces at 120 – 122 Little Lonsdale Street, near the corner of Elizabeth Street, were built in 1854 as part of a row of “Little Lon” buildings that are still standing and also includes a pub.

In the 1850s, and for the century that followed, the precinct was notorious for its seedy underbelly. The easternmost Little Lonsdale Street blocks accommodated at least four brothels run by infamous pimp Madame Brussels.

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Victorian Government Reaps $40 Million From Sale of Old Melbourne Convention Centre

THE Victorian Government has made about $40 million from the sale of the old Melbourne Convention Centre.

A joint venture between local developer Clement Lee and Eureka Funds Management has purchased the development site on the south-west corner of Flinders and Spencer streets.

A $300 million mixed use village is planned, according to the AFR which reported the sale.

Eureka owns the neighbouring Crowne Plaza Hotel, while Mr Lee’s Asset 1 owns the World Trade Centre, to the west of the former state government site.

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Densities, Values of Bennetts Lane Site Booms in Two Years

IN a sign of how dense living is set to become within the CBD grid, a tiny 120 square metre development site – big enough to fit about six parked cars – will become an 11-level, 25-unit apartment tower.

The owner of a site at 22 – 24 Bennetts Lane has decided to sell after obtaining a permit to redevelop the existing block into a major tower.

Two years ago, the site sold at auction for $1.1 million or about twice what had been expected.

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Defunct Melbourne Convention Centre to be Sold as Development Site

Selling Melbourne to the WorldTHE Victorian Government will offload a prominent asset on the banks of the Yarra River, at the junction the CBD meets Southbank and Docklands.

The Department of Treasury and Finance is managing the campaign to sell the former Melbourne Convention Centre building at the south-west corner of Flinders and Spencer streets and abutting the prominent semi-circle Crowne Promenade Hotel.

The low rise building, once used as Melbourne’s makeshift Crown Casino is expected to be demolished.

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Morry Schwartz sells CBD apartment site

DEVELOPER Morry Schwartz has sold a residential development site he couldn’t get developed, at the top end of the Melbourne CBD.

Singapore-based construction and property giant Chip Eng Seng Corp is reported to have paid $20.2 million for the 1857 square metre site at 27 – 39 Mackenzie Street, which had a permit for a 32-level, 388 unit apartment complex (pictured).

Morry Schwart’z company Pan Urban paid $10.8 million for the site in 2008, then subsequently marketed a complex, before eventually listing it for sale.

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CBUS Buys Half Share in 171 Collins Street Development

171 Collins StreetAS reported in The Age last year, CBUS Property has confirmed it is the mystery buyer of a half share interest in Melbourne’s 171 Collins Street development.

CBUS has paid Sydney-based owner Charter Hall $15.5 million, to take its share in the $280 million office development, which challenged a previous planning precedent, restricting height around the “Collins Street spine”.

It’s understood the developers are targeting the National Australia Bank which has a 40,000 to 60,000 square metre requirement in the market at the moment.

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Over Fiftys to Sell 35 Spring Street as High Rise Apartment Development Site

35 Spring StreetLOCK the date into your diary: 2015 should see the demolition of one of the CBD’s more prominent eyesores.

The spectacularly located, mission brown, 35 Spring Street office building, opposite Treasury Gardens may seize functioning as an office, 41 years after it was built.

Vendor, the Over Fifty Direct Property Trust, will sell the building with plans for a predominantly glass, 39-level, 165-unit glass apartment complex.

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