St Kilda’s Former George Cinema For Sale

THE space where iconic St Kilda cinema The George thrived in the 1990s, before struggling financially in the earlier part of this century and then closing, is for sale.

Still known locally as The George Cinemas despite the site re-opening (for two weeks) as Cinema Aurora in 2010, the 1142 square metre space over two levels includes a multi-level car park, and liquor licence. It also includes a newly fitted candy bar and foyer.

Being sold with vacant possession, the space has the potential to earn about $400,000 in annual rent, according to the selling agent Chris Muller, of Wilson Port Phillip who is expecting interest from owner occupiers and investors. The former cinema is expected to fetch about $2.75 million.

Read more

Top Melbourne Suburbs to Invest, For Budgets of Less Than $500,000

Flemington Post OfficeMELBOURNE’s once booming real-estate market has finally decelerated – and for the first time in a long time, buyers are calling the shots.

If you have a secure job, low debt and a will to own real estate – banks, developers and the Government want to talk.

But a word of advice: if you do take the plunge, spend what you can afford, rather than the maximum amount you can borrow.

Saturday Domain talks to some experts on which suburbs you should look at, no matter what your budget:

Read more

Pace Proposes Colourful 18-Level Tower For St Kilda Junction

THE Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal will decide whether a developer can replace rundown offices at one of Melbourne’s busiest intersections with a colourful, 18-level apartment tower, sure to be a landmark within the bayside suburb of St Kilda.

Plans for the 2-8 St Kilda Road proposal show a unique building which will appear as several stacks packed on top of each other. Each stack (of between two to four levels of apartments) are burgundy, teal, orange, green, yellow and white.

The City of Port Phillip council refused the application citing height, scale and intensity concerns. Mayor Rachel Powning warned the building would negatively impact traffic flow and road safety around the St Kilda junction which connects St Kilda Road with Fitzroy Street, Punt, Dandenong and Queens roads.

Read more

26-Level Tower Approved For Site Near St Kilda Junction

VICTORIAN planning minister Matthew Guy has approved the construction of a 26-level, 272 unit apartment complex near the frantic St Kilda Junction, in Melbourne’s inner-south.

Set to be developed on a 2845 square metre block at the intersection of St Kilda Road and Barkly Street, the proposed building (artist impression, right) will also include triple storey townhouses, a pedestrian walkway and a podium garden.

A ground floor artist studio and gallery space which will be made available for local artisans. One bedroom units will range in size between 37 and 47 square metres.

Read more

St Kilda Triangle Proposal Back on the Agenda

A LEANER, greener proposal to redevelop the 1.5-hectare St Kilda Triangle site should be unveiled by next year – allowing construction to start soon after.

The City of Port Phillip, which includes many new councilors elected on the back of protesting a controversial 2007 proposal – has started a community consultation program designed to create a new vision for the blue ribbon asset, next door to the Palais Theatre, opposite St Kilda Beach.

Its recently released Toward a Shared Vision document summarises feedback from a public ideas forum held about the redevelopment in June. Amongst the 40 attendees were architects, planners, council staff and members of the Acland and Fitzroy street traders’ associations.

Read more

Prominent Pubs, and a Western Suburbs Development Site, Offered in $80 Million Portfolio

SOME of Melbourne’s most popular hospitality venues – and a major western suburb development site – form part of an $80 million portfolio of properties set to hit the market next month.

A consortium of Melbourne-based private investors, including Sebastian Catalfamo and Gilbert Cabral, will share in the spoils of the eight properties which are being offered separately.

In Melbourne, hospitality venues include The Point on Albert Park Lake – a 940-seat venue which is expected to sell for about $3 million.

Read more

Australian Unity Sells Former Austereo Office, St Kilda For About $10 Million

AUSTRALIAN Unity has sold another Melbourne asset, this time in the bayside suburb of St Kilda.

The prominent black office at 180 St Kilda Road was occupied for years by Austereo as the studio headquarters of radio stations Fox FM and Triple M.

Austereo recently relocated to a new state-of-the-art facility in South Melbourne, but sublet its offices at 180 St Kilda Road, where it is committed until June 2014.

Based on the building’s current annual rent of $854,000, and sale price of $10 million, the asset sold on a yield of 8.5 per cent. The office measures 2956 square metres and includes a 61-bay basement car park and residential redevelopment potential.

Read more

Alannah Hill Stitches $1.68 Million From St Kilda Apartment Sale

FASHIONISTA Alannah Hill has stitched up $1.68 million from the sale of a three-level St Kilda apartment she bought in 2004 as an impulse buy.

The apartment is built into the walls of an 1888 mansion in trendy Fitzroy Street – a property previously a home to squatters, a brothel, and later a French Consulate.

With a double garage, three bedrooms, wine cellar and a rooftop garden with city views, the apartment was decorated in Ms Hill’s unique style.

Read more

Another Former St Kilda Rooming House to be Sold as Renovation Rescue

A CENTURY old home in St Kilda’s ritzy St Leonard’s Avenue has hit the market for the first time since the 1960s.

Hocking Stuart St Kilda’s Kehren Eade is marketing the unrenovated, three-bedroom “farmhouse-style” home at #2, on behalf of former Melbourne University and RMIT Mathematics lecturer, John Forrester, who lives there with his son and daughter in law.

Mr Eade says the property was originally a rooming house like existing and now-demolished homes at #9, and 10 – 16 St Leonard’s Avenue

Read more

Another Former St Kilda Rooming House to be Sold as Renovation Rescue

A CENTURY old home in St Kilda’s ritzy St Leonard’s Avenue has hit the market for the first time since the 1960s.

Hocking Stuart St Kilda’s Kehren Eade is marketing the unrenovated, three-bedroom “farmhouse-style” home at #2, on behalf of former Melbourne University and RMIT Mathematics lecturer, John Forrester, who lives there with his son and daughter in law.

Mr Eade says the property was originally a rooming house like existing and now-demolished homes at #9, and 10 – 16 St Leonard’s Avenue

Read more

Buxton Buys St Kilda Development Site

MELBOURNE-based developer Buxton Group has been revealed as the buyer of a prominent St Kilda development site near the Acland Street shopping strip.

The group is believed to be paying about $7.5 million for a 1000 square metre site at the corner of Barkly and Belford streets previously occupied by the Vasiliki lobster shop and Earls Hardware.

The site was sold with a permit for a $50 million, five-level tower with about 84 units but it’s believed Buxton may propose a higher density redevelopment, a practice which is becoming increasingly common all around Melbourne.

Read more

Major $50m-Plus Project Earmarked For St Kilda’s Vasiliki Lobster Crayfish Site

ST KILDA properties that previously accommodated two of the area’s most established local businesses have sold to a developer.

The single-level Vasiliki lobster crayfish site, and an adjoining two level building which for years traded as Earl’s Hardware, will be cleared to make way for a new $50 million-plus luxury apartment project, with ground floor retail.

The buildings are spread across two properties between 173 – 177 Barkly Street, at the corner of Belford Street – which is one of just two roads that intersect with the popular Acland Street retail strip nearby.

Read more

Salvador Dali Inspired Apartment Complex to Replace Ex-Greasy Joes Site, St Kilda

THEY build “love-it-or-hate-it” apartment complexes in some of Melbourne’s best streets.

And now boutique builder Arno is coming to St Kilda, with plans to develop a four-storey, 33-unit high-end apartment building at the intersection of Acland and Carlisle streets, opposite the O’Donnell Gardens and Luna Park.

The Face, as it is to be known, will be identified by its distinctive “sinuous and liquid” copper facade, and oval shaped window frames, inspired by surrealist artist Salvador Dali.

Read more

LPD to Build Apartments on Ex-Zagame Site, Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

ONE of the newest developers to emerge from the recent economic downturn – which financially strained many of Melbourne’s traditional builders – has quietly purchased a development site opposite Albert Park Lake.

Little Project Developments has snapped up 161 Fitzroy Street, a building famous ten years ago for being part-cafe, and part Lamborghini dealership.

Also known as the old Zagame car dealership site, the property is next door to Medina apartments, between Grey and Princes streets – and is part of the trendy, but at times boisterous, Fitzroy Street retail strip.

Read more

St Kilda’s Former Post Office Sells For $4.75 Million to Asian Apartment Developer

St Kilda Post OfficeST Kilda’s historic Post Office building, at the corner of St Kilda Road and Inkerman Street, has sold to an Asian developer for $4.75 million.

The 1,236 square metre site at 306 – 310 St Kilda Road, sold with a permit for a five-level, 40-unit serviced apartment building, with a ground floor restaurant to be built into the existing Post Office building.

The sale reflects a price of about $3,843 per square metre of land.

Read more

Pace Developments Pays $5.1 Million For Collection of St Kilda Buildings, Apartments Planned

BRIGHTON-based builder Pace Developments has paid $5.1 million for a collection of offices and warehouses overlooking Dandenong Road.
 
The 11 – 17 Wellington Street properties cover 1,250 square metres, and offer a second street frontage to Nelson Street.
 
The six buildings on the site will be demolished and replaced with a six-level apartment tower with more than 100 units, offering views over Albert Park Lake toward Port Phillip Bay and the CBD.

Read more