Commercial and residential property news
IT’s difficult not to draw parallels between the current Spring selling season, and that of 2007 when Melbourne was heading into a boom.
Now, like then, weekly clearance rates are over 80 per cent where they have been for months.
Auctions are well attended, too, and properties are consistently selling for more than their reserve prices – in part because of low interest rates luring prospective buyers to the market.
CHICAGO-based real estate agency Jones Lang LaSalle has posted a rise in net income for the September quarter to $US19.8 million
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A Chicago home next door to US President Barack Obama’s home (pictured) has come onto the market with a price tag of $US1.85 million ($A2.2 million).
The unrenovated 17-room home at 5040 S Greenwood Avenue, in the Chicago neighbourhood of Kenwood, has been owned by Bill & Jacky Grimshaw since 1973.
The property was listed for sale in September for an unspecified price.
The Secret Service will need to clear anybody who visits the Grimshaws house, according to selling agent Matt Garrison.
Read moreHOBART’s Myer building, and the adjoining block of land that was once the city’s Liverpool Street Myer store, have sold for $16.015 million.
The 4,000 square metre site includes a six-level office, leased to Myer, and the vacant block.
The Liverpool Street store was destroyed by fire in September 2007.
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FAST food giant McDonalds will shuts its three Iceland stores next weekend.
Franchise owners have cited falling profits caused by the collapse in the Icelandic krona, as a reason for shutting the three Reykjavik restaurants.
McDonalds, long considered a symbol of globalisation, and is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants according to Bloomberg. It opened in Iceland 16 years ago.
In July, McDonalds announced it would open 36 new Australian restaurants this year (up from the 21 it opened last year) bringing the total number of national outlets to 815.
Read moreMACQUARIE Group has agreed to lease a 19,500 square metre London and European head office at Canary Wharf.
UK-based real estate website propertyweek.com said Macquarie will relocate to a new project at Drapers Garden, Canary Wharf, from CityPoint, in 2011.
Macquarie will join he likes of Citigroup, Credit Suisse and HSBC in the heavily focussed financial service precinct.
Read moreTHE world’s biggest lolly shop has opened its doors in Dubai’s Dubai Mall.
Candylicious, a candy shop of approximately 930 square metres, includes pillars embedded with lollies, a canopy of a lollipop tree and a large Candylicious aeroplane.
The store will include familiar brands such as Hersheys, M&M’s and every flavour of Jelly Belly and lollipops, as well as a collection of home made candy and specialty confectionary from brands such as Madelaine Chocolates, Miss Sweetie and Gina Michaels.
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THE Property Council of Australia today unveiled its “Adelaide in 2036” planning proposal.
The report proposes a city-wide masterplan to promote city living.
PCA executive director Nathan Paine said in his recommendations a taller hospital, on a smaller site, would allow the city to utilise its riverbank with taller buildings, much like Brisbane or Melbourne.
Read morePERTH’s David Jones store in the CBD has sold to the Singapore listed Starhill Global REIT for almost $115 million.
The asset was put to the market by MCS28, a syndicate managed by Centro Properties Group.
The 4-level property on Hay Street Mall was valued at $114.5 million in June (down 13 per cent since last year). It sold on a yield of 7.75 per cent.
Read moreLOCAL private investors and developers George Atzemis and Constantine Berbatis have been revealed as the buyers to pay Eureka Funds Management $44 million for the Perth’s Holiday Inn City Centre.
The 181-room, 4.5 star hotel is expected to be refurbished.
“We believe the performance f the Holiday Inn in 2008 and 2009 makes it the cream of accommodation hotels in Australia,” Mr Aztzemis told the AFR.
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SYDNEY-based property developer Lang Walker has paid a speculated $10 million for a 30 hectare parcel of land, once part of Amcor’s Petrie paper mill, in Brisbane.
The off-market transaction is understood to have occurred in May. It’s reported Mr Walker will develop the estate, about 23 kilometres north of Brisbane, in three stages.
“Demand has already proven strong,” Mr Walker told The Australian. “With very limited marketing, we have already sold a third of the stage of the estate to businesses and investors from the local area.”
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THE luxurious new Gold Coast mansion of former IT entrepreneur Daniel Tzvetkoff has come on the market.
The 6-bedroom home, built on four house blocks between 33 – 39 Hedges Avenue in Mermaid Beach, will be offered for tender in a campaign closing next month.
Mr Tzvetkoff is reported to have paid $28 million for part-built property in early 2008, which was to have been the home of former tourism entrepreneur Tony Smith.
Read moreBROOKFIELD Multiplex has offloaded Queensland’s Wilsonton Shopping Centre for about $36 million, on a yield of almost 7 per cent.
The shopping centre is expected to be revamped, under plans by its new owner, Brisbane-based private developer Kilcor Group.
Brookfield purchased the shopping centre in April 2006.
Read moreAS part of its plan to build a $90 million bus depot, the Brisbane City Council has paid $16.5 million
Read moreQUEENSLAND-based developer FKP is understood to be close to selling its Redbank Plaza Shopping Centre, in Brisbane, for between $14
Read moreDevine Group managing director David Devine is selling a high-profile McDonald’s outlet in Surfers Paradise’s Cavill Avenue. The four storey
Read moreABACUS Property Group has offloaded two Queensland hotels for $34.2 million to Rydges Hotel’s Amalgamated Holdings Limited.
The hotels include the Rydges Gladstone and Townsville hotels, and were sold by the Abacus Hospitality Fund.
The purchases follow a spending spree last year, in which AHL paid the Raptis Group and City Pacific’s CP1 $56.5 million for the Gold Coast International hotel. It also paid Selpam and FKP $22 million for the Port Douglas Sabaya Resort.
Read moreGPT Group’s Homemaker City Fortitude Valley shopping centre, in Brisbane, is believed to be close to sale for about $90 million.
The complex includes more than a dozen bulky goods outlets, and a 700-bay car park. The centre is believed to be in due diligence to an as-yet-undisclosed purchaser.
The centre was one of seven GPT put to the market last year in Queensland and New South Wales. To date, the Cannon Hill and Windsor Centre in Brisbane have sold for a combined $20 million.
Read moreTRINITY Limited has sold Brisbane’s 400 Queen Street office in Brisbane for $15.75 million.
In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday, Trinity confirmed it offloaded the 13-level, 3,989 square metre building, which it acquired in April 2007.
“400 Queen Street formed part of an amalgamated group of four adjoining commercial buildings owned by TERF [Trinity Enhanced Return Fund], which are well positioned within the ‘golden triangle’ of the Brisbane CBD”, Trinity said. “The sale follows the divestment of 410 Queen Street for $23.8 million and 20 South Wharf for $5.5 million earlier this year.
Read moreTHE Federal Government today responded to a report by the Senate Select Committee on Housing Affordability in Australia, tabled last June.
The recommendations and responses are copied below.
The report focused on:
Read moreJAPANESE-born, Sydney-based restaurateur Tetsuya Wakuda will open a second restaurant next June – in Singapore.
The chef will open at a Las Vegas style resort currently under construction at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. He will join international restaurateurs including Wolfgang Puck, Mario Batali and Daniel Boulud from the United States, Guy Savoy from France and Santi Santamaria, from Spain.
Read moreTHE Australian Securities and Investments Commission has launched proceedings against current and former officers at Centro.
Executives associated with the Centro Retail Trust and Centro Properties Group will need to defend claims they did not breach their duties of care, related to the accuracy of information in the company’s public financial reports.
A full copy of ASIC’s statement of claim is available at this link:
Read moreAustraland chief financial officer Tiernan O’Rourke resigned from the company today (October 15), and it is looking for a replacement.
A copy of the company’s announcement is below:
Read moreINSTITUTIONAL developers are being encouraged to submit applications, for the third stage of the Federal Government’s National Rental Affordability Scheme.
The scheme gives developers incentives of almost $8,700 per dwelling built, with the properties then rented out at a substantial discount to market rates.
More than successful 10,500 applicants, including groups such as teachers, have already taken advantage of the government hand-out.
Read moreLend Lease today announced a plan to become a stapled entity, with newly created trust: Lend Lease Trust (LLT).
A copy of the announcement is below:
Lend Lease Corporation (“Lend Lease”) today announced a proposal to become a stapled entity (“Stapling Proposal”) on ASX. This will be achieved by distributing units in a newly created trust, Lend Lease Trust (“LLT”) to shareholders on a 1:1 basis and “stapling” each unit and share together so that they trade on ASX as a stapled security.
Read moreTHE funds management division of Melbourne-based developer Grocon, and US-based private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management have made an offer for the Multiplex Prime Property Fund, with a $109 million cash and hybrid security offer.
The move would see Grocon take over the management of the fund, and unit holders walk away from a second instalment obligation, due in 2011. Investors would sell their units for 2 cents each, they are currently worth 1 cent.
It’s reported discussions have been underway between the groups since May this year, and that any deal would see the Grocon-Oaktree consortium pay an upfront $45 million to banks, and a further $56 million to pay some of the upcoming second instalment liability.
Read moreA HALF share of Australia’s fourth largest home builder – Henley Homes – has been sold to Japanese industrial business Sumitomo Forestry for an undisclosed sum.
The deal comes after a four year negotiation, but the developers have worked together on two projects in Melbourne.
Sumitomo builds about 10,000 houses a year in Japan, and is also involved in projects at Wangaratta, in Victoria, Nelson in New Zealand, China, Korea and the United States.
Read moreThe Reserve Bank of Australia lifted official interest rates by 25 basis points today, to 3.25 per cent. The move
Read moreVALAD Property Group has announced the resignation of two senior executives. In a brief statement to the ASX yesterday, Valad’s
Read moreAustralia’s largest builders have grabbed a bigger share of the new home market thanks to the tripling of the First
Read moreALE Property Group has earmarked for sale seven hotels in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria in the first tranche of a strategic asset sales program targeted to divest $120 million worth of assets over the next 12 months.
CBRE Hotels and Burgess Rawson have been appointed to steer the sales process, which involves landmark hotels leased to Australian Leisure & Hospitality Group (ALH), which is 75% owned by Woolworths Limited.
The sale follows the highly successful June 2009 auctions of five ALE hotels in Sydney and Melbourne, which were sold under the hammer for a combined $27.8m at yields as low as 5.05%.
Read moreSTOCKLAND is believed to be making about $40 million from the sale of its 234 Sussex Street office, in the
Read moreA SINGAPOREAN investor is believed to have paid about $75 million for an office at 20 Hunter Street in Sydney.
Read moreCHALLENGER Financial Services has made $85 million from the sale of its George Street Cinema complex in the Sydney CBD.
Private investors Coombes Property Group has purchased the 505 -523 George Street property, which includes a seven-storey cinema building, and sits on a 4,300 square metre block. The sale price is believed to translate to an approximate 8.25 per cent yield.
Read moreAN as yet undisclosed south-east Asian investor has paid $185 million for GPT’s unrenovated ‘Four Points by Sheraton’ hotel, in Sydney.
The hotel sold at a 10 per cent discount to its June 2009 valuation of $206 million. In December last year it was valued at $236 million.
Based on the asset’s current annual rent, the hotel sold on a yield of 8.8 per cent.
Read moreCostco is proposing a $55.4 million store and office at a site in Sydney’s western Auburn. Expected to open late
Read morePROPERTY giant Australand has offloaded the Crest Hotel, in Kings Cross, Sydney, for $72 million.
Property developer Michael Sanchez is reported to have purchased the 227-room hotel, with plans to convert the old building into luxury apartments.
Australand paid Coogee Bay Hotel owner Chris Cheung $63 million for the hotel two years ago. The hotel has been unused since June, when the Constellation Group vacated.
Read moreUNITED Kingdom based fashion label Topshop will open its first Sydney store next month.
The fashion shop will lease the second level of Incu’s 256 Oxford Street store, in Paddington.
To be known as Incu Presents Topshop, the retailer will stock the same range available throughout a 340-strong network in Britain.
Read moreBRITISH fund manager New Star has sold its Customs House office building in the Melbourne CBD at a 30 per cent less loss to the price it agreed to pay last March.
New Star will make “close to $50 million” from the sale of the 18-level office building at 414 La Trobe Street – far less than the $67 million it paid Investa for the renovated 19-year old tower, last year.
The transaction is the latest in a string of major Melbourne CBD office sales this year, including 303 Collins Street, 350 Collins Street, 473 Bourke Street, 120 Harbour Esplanade (Docklands), and a half share in 1 Spring Street.
Read morePLANS for a giant Docklands nightclub capable of accommodating 750 patrons have been approved by ALP Planning Minister Justin Madden.
The Minister granted the development of Platform 28 at the Goods Shed, two days before the liquor licence hearing would have decided whether a licence should be granted.
The project is being developed by Grollo Group’s Equiset, and will include two outside areas capable of accommodating 300 patrons.
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RINGWOOD’s Memorial Clocktower Park will be replaced with a one-way bus lane, under plans being proposed by the Department of Transport and to be considered by the Maroondah council.
The proposal would see a park relocated to a site, currently used as a car park, east of the Clocktower.
A large cypress tree and other vegetation will be removed to allow bus access to a new railway station interchange from Wantirna Road.
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AN 8,000 square metre slice of Elsternwick’s historic Rippon Lea estate, compulsorily acquired by the State Government in the 1950s for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – is likely to be sold to residential developers, if the ABC vacates the property in 2012.
ABC project director Ray Moore told Secret Agent it is considering selling two Elsternwick properties, currently occupied as studios and offices, including a major complex on Gordon Street abutting Rippon Lea – built on what was once the property’s southern boundary.
THE entrepreneur nephew of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Patrick Handbury, is selling a Geelong waterfront mansion.
Mr Handbury is seeking $2.69 million for the 77-year old, 5-bedroom property at The Esplanade, in Drumcondra, at the suburb border where North Geelong meets Geelong.
The mansion sits on a 949 square metre block and also includes two studies, a billiard room with open fire place, sheltered pool area with gazebo, and living areas overlooking Corio Bay.
FOUR months since selling to developers, the new owners of South Melbourne’s 41 – 49 Bank Street office – and long time home of Fairfax Media’s Southern Cross Broadcasting – have lodged plans to build a hotel and apartment complex on the site.
A spokeswoman for the Port Phillip Council said it is reviewing an application to demolish the existing building and construct a 16-level complex, which would include 126 apartments, 88 hotel suites, and a ground floor restaurant.
ASCOT Vale’s former Marivale Nursing Home will be sold next month, and is expected to be redeveloped into a new apartment complex.
Nelson Alexander Real Estate executive Duncan McPherson said demand for the 3,110 square metre Ascot Vale supersite has come predominantly from residential developers, able to exploit the site’s two street frontages, and location, near Union Road shops and transport.
ADVERTISING mogul Harold Mitchell is building a new $30 million company headquarters on the prominent South Melbourne site his agency has occupied since the late 1980s.
The media specialist, who established Mitchell Communication Group in 1976, has demolished a double-storey building his agency previously occupied at 101 – 107 York Street, and will replace it with a 5-level, 5,100 square metre A-grade office, with several outdoor balconies, and city views.
The new Bruce Henderson Architect designed HQ will consolidate Mitchells staff from five offices around South Melbourne, including space it has temporarily leased for the period of construction, opposite the South Melbourne Market nearby.
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EXCLUSIVE retailer Tag Heuer has chosen the centre of Collins Street to open a new Australian flagship store, according to sources.
Tag will boot out shoe retailer Florsheim, to occupy a prominent 170 square metre ground floor retail space at Challenger’s 330 Collins Street, on the north-west corner of Elizabeth Street.
MAB Corporation is looking for a dentist, or an allied health specialist, to fill the last piece of its massive Health and Wellbeing precinct, at the $1 billion University Hill complex, in Bundoora.
Earlier this month health group Genesis announced it would develop a $10 million fitness club on land within the precinct, bringing total occupancy at the 14,000 indulgent-centred precinct to about 90 per cent.
A giant Asian-themed fresh food market – and an adjoining bazaar selling clothing and variety goods – will be developed on the outgoing Forges of Footscray site, in Melbourne’s west.
The syndicate of Vietnamese businessmen that paid about $16 million for the near – one hectare collection of properties in July, will split the site in central Footscray into two envelopes, divided by Albert Street.
COLLINS Street’s National Trust listed London & Lancashire Building sold after auction last Friday for for $7.5 million to a private investor.
The 1,927 square metre, seven-level freestanding office with roof-top terrace, is expected to undergo a renovation before being leased to the market as boutique offices.
MELBOURNE businessmen Matt Joyce and colleague Marcus Lee have been granted bail after serving nine months in a Dubai prison, on suspicion of fraud.
The businessmen worked for the Nakheel company’s multi-billion Dubai Waterfront development, and were arrested in January and jailed for six months before charges of misappropiation were laid. An application to hear their case was granted last month.
The pair will be forced to hand in their passports. The first witness will appear on November 17.
Read moreA Melbourne CBD development site once considered hazardous by the Environment Protection Authority, will make way for a major residential village of more than 2500 apartments.
Hong Kong based developer Far East Consortium International has announced plans to develop the former Lonsdale Street Power Station into a village of four, 40-level apartment towers which will sit above a five story podium, up to 60 retail shops.
To put the development in perspective, the previous chimney stack that was on the site, was reported to be the equivalent of an approximate 37-level tower.
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HIGH end fashion retailer Tiffany & Co is about to embark on a major renovation of its 267 Collins Street store, estimated to be worth more than $15 million.
The move will see Tiffany’s relocate to former Qantas occupied space at 233 Collins Street, while its flagship retailer down the street is fully remodelled.
SYDNEY-based developer Ashington will bring in a new partner to increase the financial backing of its Stonington Malvern project, on what was once the Deakin University Toorak campus, on Glenferrie Road.
An Ashington spokesman said it expects to appoint a development partner for the project next month, and start construction in stages from early next year.
MELBOURNE’s former financial centre – and one of the CBD’s few “ghost” buildings – is set to be remarketed, after a change in strategy by its owners.
Sixteen years after shutting its doors, the former Australian Stock Exchange building at 357 Collins Street will be redeveloped into a mixed use village of shops, offices and around 220 apartments, across two towers.
The proposal will see the development of a new retail arcade with strata office suites connecting the two towers.
IT’s out with the old and in with the new in Canterbury.
Developer EG Property Group has won approval to redevelop the former Hedley Sutton Retirement Home into a medium density residential village with a speculated end value of about $50 million.
THE former Toorak Veterinary Hospital will be developed into a luxury 15-unit apartment complex.
The 646 Malvern Road hospital, in Prahran – renowned in the area for performing animal acupuncture – will be cleared to make way for the complex, which is due for completion in early 2011.
THE high profile developer behind a seven-level Fitzroy North apartment tower is launching a new local art competition and event, open only to “Fitzroyalty”.
The winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize, and have their work displayed in the building’s foyer for a year.
FUND manager MAB is believed to be in advanced negotiations to buy a major suburban office park in Melbourne’s south-east.
Sources say the Ferntree Gully Business Park in Ferntree Gully Road, Notting Hill, about 18 kilometres from town, is close to sale for about $45 million to MAB Funds Management Limited.
DEVELOPER Vicland is selling a portfolio of eight shops, which form the entire ground floor retail area of a nearly complete Docklands apartment building.
Vicland can expect to make almost $10 million from the sales, at 838 Bourke Streets, and beneath 138-apartments at Lend Lease’s Merchant building in Victoria Harbour.
AN Indonesian timber merchant is understood to have paid $24.3 million for one of Box Hill’s most prominent office buildings.
The government leased 883 Whitehorse Road office was quietly sold this week, reflecting a yield of about 8 per cent, based on the suburban office’s annual income of just over $1.98 million.
MURRUMBEENA’s former Christian Guest House has sold for $6.15 million to boutique residential builder Pace Developments.
The 5,290 square metre site, which had also previously been used as an aged care facility, will make way for a 4-level, 100 unit apartment complex with a speculated end value of more than $40 million.
THE LABOR Party has buckled to mounting voter and media pressure, related to a perceived unfair tax imposed on homeowners in Melbourne’s growth areas.
Footballer turned Labor Party Planning Minister Justin Madden had previously expected land owners in some Melbourne areas to pay a $95,000 per hectare tax, which would pay for things such as infrastructure and roads, and attract more development (or developers).
It’s been argued the government, or major developers which will benefit from from the investment, should flip the expected $11 billion bill – rather than profit from it.
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DFO South Wharf opens today, on the same day the outgoing Spencer Street DFO will be converted into a mainstream shopping centre.
Confirming the worst kept secret in Melbourne property circles, developer Austexx will relocate the popular discount arcade to its new $750 million South Wharf develpment, on the banks of the Yarra River in Southbank, just south of the Docklands border over the Charles Grimes Bridge.
The 60,000 square metre complex includes a 25,000 square metre DFO, homemaker centre, and a leisure and lifestyle area. The wider South Wharf development also includes a Hilton Hotel, and office building.
Read moreDEMAND for industrial space in Melbourne is continuing, with a string of major lease deals announced in recent weeks.
Brillian Aluminium has leased a 24,800 square metre facility at 61 Australis Drive, Derrimut in Melbourne’s west, where it is believed to be paying a rent of about $55 per square metre.
Booth Transport is believed to have leased about 20,000 square metres in Salta Drive, Altona North, while TTL Holdings has leased a 12,800 square metre facility of three warehouses in nearby Geelong Road.
Read moreTHE 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.
Read moreMirvac Group today announced a $256 million bid to buy shares in the Mirvac Real Estate Investment Trust which it
Read moreEVOLVE Development has quietly taken control of a $300 million housing estate in Melbourne’s outer north.
The boutique builder, co-owned by outgoing Fairfax Media chairman Ron Walker and business identity Ashley Williams, is believed to have paid Australand about $35 million for the 60 hectare parcel of land at the suburb border of Wollert and the precinct known as Epping North, about 23 kilometres from town.
To be branded Summerhill, the residential project will be the first land subdivision project for the six-year old Evolve, which has traditionally developed trendy apartment complexes in inner-city areas, like Carlton, North Melbourne and Prahran.
PARKS Victoria is selling the rights to manage one of the Mornington Peninsula’s biggest, yet most ill-fated tourist attractions – the Arthurs Seat Chairlift.
Parks is looking for an operator to design, construct, run and maintain the new tourist hub – which would replace the existing 1960 facility, which shut in 2006 after a string of safety faults left holiday-makers injured, stranded, or both.
Up for grabs is a 950-metre chairlift path, and associated tracts of land at each end of the 305-metre summit, which previously supported a small thriving retail centre.
BRUNSWICK East’s former Tip Top Bakery has been sold, again, and could be developed into a residential village with a possible end value of more than $100 million.
The 1.25 hectare Weston Street factory – once dubbed Melbourne’s unluckiest development site because its previous owners could not get redevelopment off the ground – sold this week for just over $11 million to Little Project Developments, the construction company of Toll Holdings chief executive Paul Little.
The art deco factory was one of the biggest development sites in the portfolio of failed property developer Westpoint, which collapsed in early 2006.
RESIDENTS in Becton’s posh One East Melbourne glass tower have won a battle to have their suburb name changed.
At a meeting last week, the Melbourne City Council approved a recommendation to shift the East Melbourne suburb boundary west, to include apartments and an office between 227 – 293 Wellington Parade South, which would have previously been considered Melbourne, 3000, and arguably be worth a lot less.
VICURBAN is proceeding with plans to build a major office building, and two apartment developments on a prominent, but disused 1.3 hectare block, abutting the Footscray train station, in Melbourne’s inner west.
The government’s sustainable land development arm is calling for submissions to develop three sites around McNab Avene, a former bowling green bound by the Footscray Market, Victoria University, and two train lines.
Government agencies, believed to be State Trustees and City West Water, will fully occupy the 15,000 square metre office, while the apartment towers, one of which could rise some 14-levels, will be a mix of traditional “own your own” units, student accommodation and affordable housing.
MELBOURNE’s iconic Rialto building is facing a vacancy blow-out of almost 20 per cent, with major tenant Telstra refusing to confirm it will stay in the office beyond the next few months.
The announcement comes as two restaurateurs confirm they are considering retail space within the landmark building.
Sources say the privatised telecommunications giant, which was told by the Rudd Government last month it may need to separate its wholesale and retail businesses, is considering vacating the approximate 16,000 square metres it occupies of the 84,700 square metre glass office, which upon completion in 1986 was the tallest city building in the southern hemisphere.
“We have a lease that expires in April 2010,” a Telstra spokeswoman told The Age. “We intend to continue to occupy the space until that time.”
SIX months after the Preston Bowls Club shut its doors and was sold, the site’s new owner has lodged plans to redevelop the 5,000 square metre property into apartments.
The Darebin City Council is reviewing an application which will see all buildings at the Murray Road site demolished, and replaced with a 4-level, 104-unit contemporary apartment tower.
Almost all of the apartments (97) will be configured as two bedroom dwellings, the balance being one-bedrooms, while basement parking will include bays for 130 cars, 32 bikes and 2 motorcycles, according to council.
CITY drinking and dining institution Campari, in Hardware Lane, has sold to a Dubai-based investor for about $5 million. The fully
Read moreTAIWANESE investors have paid $13.75 million for Point Cook’s Board Walk Shopping Centre, about 28 kilometres west of town.
The 3,490 square metre centre, under construction at 48 – 56 Tom Roberts Road, is anchored by a 1,902 square metre IGA supermarket, and includes 13 specialty shops.
Based on the building’s annual net income of $1.02 million, the Board Walk sold on a low yield of 7.4 per cent.
HAWTHORN’s former Vecchi office building at 50 Burwood Road will be put to the market, and is expected to sell for about $17 million.
The 5,000 square metre office, which hugs the western edge of the Hawthorn train station, will be sold with a permit for a 2,500 square metre extension.
Colliers International director Rob Joyes said he expects the site to arouse interest from residential developers, as well as investors, because of a flexible zoning that would allow a straightforward conversion into apartments, presumably with ground floor retail.
THE owners of the historic Equity Chambers building at 472 – 478 Bourke Street have lodged plans to build a
Read morePART of Footscray’s Western Oval football ground will make way for a $90 million, 251-unit affordable and social housing project, under new plans proposed by the Club.
The Western Bulldogs wants to team with social housing developer HomeGround Services, to build potential high-rise project, at the Geelong Road edge of the Whitten Oval stadium, around the busy Gordon Road onramp (to Geelong Road).
Funding will come from the Federal Labor Government’s Nation Building Fund.
Read moreFORMER 3AW radio commentator John Rothfield, otherwise known as Dr Turf, will develop a major apartment building on the prominent Watergrill restaurant site in South Yarra.
The sports enthusiast, bookie and author has appointed boutique architect firm Rothelowman to dream a new future for the 1,629 square metre site, which has a 41 metre frontage to Toorak Road, and is on the south-eastern corner of Cunningham Street.
The proposed development is expected to rise no higher than ten levels, and could include more than 100 apartments as well as offices, and ground floor retail, capitalising on the site’s high profile position opposite the Como Centre, and near the busy corner of Chapel Street.
