Australian Education Union Spends $16 Million on Neighbouring Abbotsford Office

THE Victorian Branch of the Australian Education Union, presided by Mary Bluett, may need to rely on fee revenue from government educators to pay off a spectacularly located office building it has purchased on the banks of the Yarra River in Abbotsford – next door to its current HQ.

The AEU’s off-market acquisition comes three years after the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria paid about $6 million for a massive art-deco office complex in Rosslyn Street, West Melbourne, and some two years since the National Union of Workers paid almost $7 million for a Bourke Street, Docklands head office.

The AEU is headquartered at a large building at 112 Trenerry Crescent, and rents out surplus office space. That building could be extended, and the site has redevelopment potential, sources say.

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Melbourne School of Theology Pays $8 Million For Prominent Nutrimetics Office, Wantirna

EVEN non-believers visiting the new Bible College of Victoria headquarters in Wantirna, may find themselves praying Melbourne drivers don’t veer off the highway, and into the building.

The Melbourne School of Theology, which is the new name for the Bible College, has paid a speculated $8 million to owner-occupy the prominent 1.94 hectare suburban office which was for a long-time pink, and the headquarters of cosmetic company Nutrimetics, which was acquired by Tupperware in 2006, then relocated to Ferntree Gully.

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Ettamogah Entertainment to Sell Brighton Headquarters

THE developer that has kept Melbourne’s heritage enthusiasts on edge for a year has quietly listed its Brighton headquarters for sale.

Ettamogah Entertainment, which went into voluntary administration last November, is directed by Leigh O’Brien, whose development company, L&D O’Brien Holdings, paid $12 million in 2009 for the prominent 1 Bay Street Brighton mansion once owned by Olympian turned Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke.

L&D planned to replace the 1933 square metre site with a high-end apartment complex, after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal approved the historic six-bedroom home on the site (pictured) be demolished.

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Council Adjusts to Being Landlord Snaring APT as Tenant

FIVE months after paying ING a speculated $22 million for the prominent Cheltenham office it was renting (pictured), the City of Kingston council has snared one of Australia’s biggest tour providers as a tenant.

Australian Pacific Touring – more commonly known as APT – has quit its 36-year headquarters at Hampton Street, Hampton, and will move to the 1230 Nepean Highway office known for years as the Fujitsu building.

APT, which established locally in 1920, will lease 3200 square metres of B-grade offices space, paying a speculated $200 per square metre, per annum in rent.

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Forza Capital Pays $14 Million for Cheltenham Office, Melbourne

ONE of Melbourne’s bigger mid-suburban office sales this year has quietly taken place in Cheltenham.

Property investment group Forza Capital has paid private developer Glenuc $14 million for 294 Bay Road, which includes a new 4,772 office building, and 4900 square metre adjoining development site.

The office is leased to service provider iSelect and will initially accommodate 320 of its employees. iSelect has an option to occupy a 10,000 square metre office earmarked for the vacant block.

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Lonely Planet Global Headquarters on the Market, Melbourne

TRILOGY Funds Management is expecting about $17 million from the sale of a riverside office asset occupied as the global headquarters of travel publisher Lonely Planet.

The prime located site at 90 Maribyrnong Street includes a 7293 square metre office, 86 car spaces, and will be sold with a new six year lease to Lonely Planet, which pays a current annual rent of $1.53 million.

Lonely Planet relocated to the converted Footscray building in 2000, from Hawthorn.

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Colonial Sells Richmond Office For $18.35 Million

INTERESTS associated with Perth based Property Bank Australia and Security Capital Corporation have paid $18.35 million for a 5122 square metre office building in Richmond.

Building 8 of 658 Church Street was offloaded by Colonial First State Global Asset Management. The asset is fully leased to DDB and Optus (trading as Uecomm).

Based on the annual net rent of $1.637 million, the asset sold on a yield of 8.9 per cent.

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Former AFL House sells for $9.65m

AN East Melbourne office built for, and occupied by the VFL/AFL sports code has sold for $9.65 million.

The five-level, 2759 square metre office at 120 Jolimont Road sold before a crowd of about 60 people to a private investor.

Based on the potential annual rent of $727,000, the office sold on a yield of 7.5 per cent. However, about a quarter of 120 Jolimont Street is vacant.

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Melbourne Fire Brigade Pays $6.45 Million For Melbourne Suburban Office

1721 Malvern RoadTHE State government has outbid a brigade of owner occupiers to snap up a hot office building in the heart of Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, which will eventually become home to the Melbourne Fire Brigade.

The MFB has paid $6.45 million for a double-storey standalone office at 1721 Malvern Road in Glen Iris, near the train station and High Street intersection.

On a block measuring 1603 square metres, the 1893 square metre building was last renovated in 2006. It includes 57 basement car parks, and currently returns a yearly rent of $523,450, mostly from tenant Preston Aviation Solutions.

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Private Sector to Develop Melbourne’s Next Hospital

50 Burwood Road, HawthornMELBOURNE’s next hospital and major medical clinic will be developed by the private sector in Hawthorn.

The City of Boroondara council has issued a permit allowing for the former VECCHI building at 50 Burwood Road to be converted from offices into a 40-bed hospital, and associated medical centre allowing up to 15 practitioners.

Sydney-based Healthbridge, a health based fund of manager Ironbridge, outmuscled several residential property developers to buy the prominent Hawthorn site for $17.1 million in April. It struck a deal to relocate the office tenants that were still based at the office, while pushing its conversion plans with council.

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Zig Inge Outmuscles Developers For Prime South Yarra Office

199 Toorak RoadFUND manager and developer Zig Inge Group is believed to have paid close to $18 million for a rundown but spectacularly located office investment at 199 Toorak Road in South Yarra.

The blue, glass, four-level building with ground floor shops is at the north-east corner of Claremont Street and will be renovated, and slotted into Zig Inge Group’s Core Plus Portfolio.

Zig Inge, which built its business developing retirement villages, outmuscled several high-rise residential developers for the 199 Toorak Road site, which measures 1689 square metres.

An adjoining site at 2 – 4 Claremont Street, measuring 908 metres was listed for sale with 199 Toorak Road, but after failing to attract interest as a whole – was sold separately after auction for a speculated $6.5 million.

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Cheltenham Office Sells For $15 Million

ONE of Cheltenham’s biggest office buildings, in a convenient location next door to the massive Westfield Southland shopping centre, has sold for about $15 million to a private investor.

Sydney-based syndicate GDI has offloaded the 4 – 10 Jamieson Street office it purchased for $13.5 million about three years ago.

The 5792 square metre building was one of several assets offloaded in 2007 by Henkell Brothers Investment Management, at what is now considered the peak of that property cycle.

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Sydney Based Healthbridge Confirmed as Hawthorn Office Buyer

A HEALTH based fund controlled by Sydney-based manager Ironbridge has been revealed as the buyer of Hawthorn’s prominent 50 Burwood Road office, abutting the Hawthorn train station.

Healthbridge Property Hawthorn Pty Ltd paid a speculated $17.1 million for the four-level, 5247 square metre office, formerly owned by VECCHI.

Ragg Weir Accounting, a tenant in the building, offered a relocation incentive to surrender their lease prior to Healthbridge settling on the property, has now leased an 1100 square metre office at LAS Investments 108 Power Street office, near the corner of Burwood Road.

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Health Group Pays $17.1 Million For Hawthorn Office

RESIDENTIAL developers keen to get their hands on a prime 4152 square metre (or an “acre”) site abutting the Hawthorn train station have been left disappointed, with an owner occupier snapping up the Burwood Road property for $17.1 million.

Colliers International director Rob Joyes, who sold the 50 Burwood Road office with Peter Bremner, said a health-related group will redevelop the building into a specialist medical centre.

The 5246 square metre office building was marketed with a permit for a 2500 square metre extension, and included 174 car spaces.

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Eaglemont Office Sells For $11.35 Million

THE suburban office opposite two billabongs, a pond, Yarra Flats and the Yarra River – has sold to a private investor for $11.35 million.
 
The modest single-level 3,216 square metre office at 677 The Boulevard, in Heidelberg’s ritzy pocket of Eaglemont, is leased to charity group Berry Street Victoria until 2018.
 
Based on the building’s current annual rent of $951,000, Colliers International selling agent Peter Bremner said the property sold on a yield of 8.38 per cent.

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Austfin Pays $10 Million For Office Component of Richmond Development

THE Austfin Growth Property Syndicate No 1 is reported to have paid $10 million for the small office component of a mixed use development in Melbourne’s inner-eastern suburb of Richmond.

Austin has picked up level 1 and 2 of the 159 – 161 Cremorne Street building, which also includes ground floor retail space and a high rise apartment complex, above, branded ERA.

The 2,444 square metre office component is leased to New York-headquartered John Wiley & Sons, which pay a current annual rent of $846,241 per annum. Based on the selling price, the building is reported to have sold on a yield of 8.46 per cent.

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