Buyer found for historic Melbourne CBD building once owned by Patricia Ilhan

Image of Patricia Ilhan, a philanthropist, taken from the Australian Food Allergy Foundation website, of which she is founder and chair.

An investment in the Melbourne CBD owned until 2015 by Patricia Ilhan, the widow of Crazy John founder, John, has sold for a speculated price of about $14 million.

The asset, 362 Little Collins Street, is configured with ground floor retail space below three levels of offices.

It contains a lettable area of about 950 square metres and sits on a 312 sqm plot not far from the Bourke Street Mall.

Based on the approximate annual rental return of $396,000, and sale price, the asset is trading on a yield circling 2.8 per cent. When it hit the market in July, the investment had a guide price of more than $12 million.

Teksa Carson’s Michael Ludski represented a private investor who paid Ms Ilhan $9.5 million.

Ms Ilhan acquired 362 Little Collins Street for $4 million on Christmas Eve, 2009. It is selling this time around to ISPT and Brookfield which are developing a neighbouring site into an office building, according to the Australian Property Journal.

This property, and several abutting it, were occupied by the city’s McEwans hardware store for more than 30 years until the 1990s. After that, Bunnings moved in, staying until 2005.

A plan to replace airspace of the ex-McEwans store with a 50-storey hotel was floated in the late 1980s.

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Marc Pallisco

A freelance property writer and experienced analyst, Marc is the co-founder of realestatesource.com.au