ISPT To Reap About $35 Million From Sale of 474 St Kilda Road

474 St Kilda RoadIndustry Superannuation Property Trust can expect to make between $30 million and $35 million from what might be the most under-utilised property in St Kilda Road.

The Clemenger House office building, at # 474, is spread over two blocks and three streets.

Given the shifting attitude in recent years to convert St Kilda Road offices into high rise apartment skyscrapers, 474 St Kilda Road is expected to arouse interest from residential developers.

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Target Signs Major Office Lease in St Kilda Road, Melbourne

RETAIL giant Target has leased 4462 square metres of office space on Melbourne city-fringe office market, St Kilda Road.

The Wesfarmers controlled group chose the building because of its proximity to the CBD and Flinders Street train station.

St Kilda Road office tenants have criticised (and vacated) the area which is only serviced by train. At it’s peak St Kilda Road had more than 800,000 square metres of available office space, but no developer has proposed a new office in more than ten years.

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City Shift as Provincial Victorians Buy Melbourne “Holiday House”

We’ve all heard about the sea changers – the growing number of Melburnians packing up their homes and heading to a new life in the coast or country.

Singles, couples and families are leaving in droves – trading in the city’s caffeine infused impersonal lifestyle for something more inspiring.

But while the sea-changers pack up their four-wheel-drives in search of a new home outside of the metropolitan area, they are passing a growing number of city shifters – those from provincial Victoria that are also looking for a change of scenery, and are setting up tent right in the heart of the city.

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Spotless Group Leases Entire St Kilda Road Office Building, Melbourne

SPOTLESS Group has leased an entire St Kilda Road office building, and will relocate its headquarters from the Melbourne CBD.

The cleaning services and management company, currently based at 350 Queen Street, has leased about 9200 square metres at the 549 St Kilda Road building previously known as AIG House.

The rent Spotless will pay has not been disclosed, but industry sources speculate it circles about $250 per square metre, per annum, before incentives (a lure usually offered in the way of a fit-out, or rental discount). This is low compared to the CBD, Southbank and Docklands.

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Schwartz Family Corporation to Sell 499 St Kilda Road

AUSTRALIAN hotel owners Schwartz Family Corporation are selling a major St Kilda Road development site bordering Fawkner Park.

The family can expect around $53 million from the sale of The Fawkner Centre at 499 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, near the corner of Commercial Road, which acts as the Prahran and South Yarra suburb border.

The 6070 square metre site includes a 19-level, 21,377 square metre office pictured, right) that currently returns annual rent of $5.9 million.

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ISPT sells St Kilda Rd office

474 St Kilda RoadGONE are the days when St Kilda Road complexes were limited to about 12 levels.

With the sky now the limit in regard to residential development in Melbourne – the value of a low rise office, with three street frontages at 472 – 474 St Kilda Road has ballooned over the past four years.

Sources say Industry Superannuation Property Trust has entered advanced negotiations with an as-yet-undisclosed residential developer, to sell the Clemenger BBDO House building for about $37.5 million.

ISPT paid $29.6 million for the asset in October 2006.

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Nikos Believed to be Behind $21 Million St Kilda Road Purchase

PRIVATE investment group Nikos Property Group is believed to be making its second foray into the St Kilda Road office market.

Sources say the group is in advanced negotiations to buy the 549 St Kilda Road office for $21 million.

The building is being offloaded by Chartis, whose predecessor, American Home Assurance Company, paid $28 million in 1987.

Chartis is relocating its offices to Docklands.

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Surge in Chinese Visa Applications Prompts St Kilda Road Office Lease

Belgian Beer CafeA SURGE in the number of Chinese visa applications has forced the Chinese Embassy to lease new offices specifically for the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre division.

The department will now be based at 570 St Kilda Road after signing a six year lease for almost 500 square metres of ground floor space.

The Chinese government will pay a starting rent of $240 per square metre, per annum to occupy the A-grade, 8-level office, opposite the popular Belgian Beer Cafe Bluestone and Wesley College.

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Skyscrapers to Sprout From Two Sites Around Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance

Shrine of RemembranceTWO major development sites around the Shrine of Remembrance have sold, in deals expected to see low rise office buildings replaced with skyscraper apartment towers, with a potential end value of around $250 million.

In the biggest deal, an Asia-based developer is believed to have paid about $15.5 million for a 2274 square metre site at 35 Albert Road.

A 3096 square metre office building at the address is expected to be replaced with an apartment tower, which some speculate could soar higher than 30 levels and have an end value of about $130 million.

Meanwhile across the road, boutique developer Hamton has made one of its biggest forays into the high-density residential sector.

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Ubertas Group to Sell Last Apartments at 505 St Kilda Road

A UNIQUE luxury apartment with a “left-wing” connection has hit the market, as the developer of a new complex clears the last of the unsold apartments.

The double-storey “townhouse-style” apartment is on the ground floor of Ubertas Group’s 505 St Kilda Road complex, a project built on the site of what was St Kilda Road’s first high-rise office.

The 505 complex is absolute park-front, having a security door connecting residents to the massive Fawkner Park. The apartment itself (G02) includes two bedrooms, a study, two car parks, downstairs courtyard and upstairs balcony – both with a park vista.

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Cheap Rents Drive St Kilda Road Office Leasing Activity

St Kilda RoadSEVERAL major office lease deals have been signed in St Kilda Road, in what is hoped will bring down vacancy from dangerous new highs recorded earlier this year.

The biggest deal is to Fujitsu Australia Limited, which will lease 25 car spaces and 3131 square metres over three levels at 570 St Kilda Road.

Fujitsu staff will relocate from offices in the CBD and at its prominent 1230 Nepean Highway office in Cheltenham.

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Defence Health to Reap $6.5 Million From Sale of Outgoing St Kilda Road Office

PRIVATE health insurer Defence Health can expect to make $6.5 million from the sale of a prominent St Kilda Road office within walking distance to the Flinders Street station.

Defence Health is the latest in a string of companies to list formerly owner-occupied buildings for sale, while it rents elsewhere.

Defence Health’s outgoing office three-level office at 344 St Kilda Road, opposite the Shrine of Remembrance is being marketed by Colliers International’s Ben Christie.

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Hudson Conway Speculated to be Buying St Kilda Road’s Former Vision Australia Site For $22 Million

St Kilda Road Belgian Beer CafeDEVELOPER Hudson Conway is speculated to be paying about $22 million for a prominent St Kilda Road development site opposite Wesley College, capable of accommodating several high rise apartment towers.

Hudson Conway is believed to be in advanced negotiations to buy the St Kilda Road site, which Sydney-based developer Stockland purchased off Vision Australia for $28.3 million in 2007.

Stockland reportedly sold the subdivided Belgian Beer Cafe bluestone building that was part of the Vision Australia property, for a speculated $7 million last year, after undertaking a $2 million renovation.

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Government Appoints Baulderstone to Undertake $128.5 Million Hamer Hall Renovation, Melbourne

Hamer HallMAJOR Projects Minister Tim Pallas has appointed construction company Baulderstone to refurbish Melbourne’s Hamer Hall.
 
A total of $128.5 million will be spent on acoustics, new auditorium seating and staging systems, new connections to central Melbourne, St Kilda Road and the Yarra River, new foyer spaces and stairs, better disability access, escalators and lifts.
 
The redevelopment is a joint venture between Arts Victoria, the Arts Centre, Major Projects Victoria and architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall.

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St Kilda Road’s Aviva Building Close to Sale For $55 Million, Apartments Earmarked

A year since coming to the market, Dexus Property Group is believed to be formalising the sale of its huge 509 – 515 St Kilda Road office for about $55 million.
 
Well placed industry sources say a residential-focussed developer is in exclusive due diligence to buy the 7-level, 19,687 square metre office building, which straddles a 6,070 square metre double-sized block near the corner of Commercial Road. 
 
They speculate the office building currently on the site – home to copier and printer giant Fuji Xerox and insurance group Aviva which also leases naming rights – will be demolished to make way for between two to three new high rise towers, flanked by ground floor retail.

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Orchard to Pocket $54 Million From 350 Collins Street Sale

Orchard Funds Management is believed to be close to selling its B-grade Collins Street office building for $54 million.
 
The Citibank Centre, at 350 Collins Street, is a 50-year old, 15-level building with 17,800 square metres of office space, 96 per cent of which is occupied.
 
The building returns about $5.4 million in annual rent, and at a sale price of $54 million, would trade on a yield of 10 per cent.

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Plans to Turn Ormond Hall, St Kilda Road, Into Hotel

The bluestone Ormond Hall in St Kilda Road, home to Victoria’s first Belgian Beer Cafe, will become a boutique hotel, under plans by Stockland, the site’s new owner.

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