Mirvac Abandons Plans to Build $120 Million Office in Hawthorn, Puts Site on the Market

MIRVAC has abandoned plans to build a $120 million office building in Burwood Road, Hawthorn, in Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs.
 
The Sydney-based developer has decided to sell the 5,000 square metre development site, months after obtaining VCAT approval to build a 5-level, 18,800 square metre office, with 557 car parks.
 
Mirvac can expect to make about $12 million for the 291 – 311 Burwood Road site. 

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Former Vision Australia Site, Prahran to be Redeveloped into $68 Million Village

THE Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has given the green light to redevelop Vision Australia’s rundown former Prahran office, into a 330-unit apartment village.
 
The 201 – 209 High Street site, which also has access to Clifton Street and Anchor Place, will make way for a $68 million multi-tower complex with shops and offices. A Stonnington City Council spokeswoman said the tallest building in the development will rise 12 levels.

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Frankston’s 12-Level Peninsula Centre to be Redeveloped Into $80 Million Luxury Hotel

IT was reportedly once described by actor Barry Humphries as “the worst building in Australia” – but now the tallest building in  Melbourne’s outer bayside suburb of Frankston is about to be remodelled into an $80 million luxury hotel.
 
Two years after the Deague family’s Asian Pacific Building Corporation paid $11.25 million for the Grollo-built 12-storey building at 435 Nepean Highway, Frankston City Council has approved plans to redevelop the “Peninsula Centre” into a 140-suite hotel, function centre, conference centre, restaurant and bar.

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Australia’s Sixth Lindt Chocolat Cafe to Open at Chadstone

CHOCOLATE lovers in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs have less than three weeks to wait for the country’s sixth Lindt Chocolat Cafe to open, within the new West Wing extension at Chadstone Shopping Centre.
 
The Chadstone cafe – due to open on August 19 – will be Lindt’s second Melbourne outlet. Last month it opened its first store at 271 Collins Street and within the walls of a historic chamber until recently occupied by the National Australia Bank.

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Silver Top Taxis’ Sets up in Mulgrave After Fire Engulfs Collingwood Headquarters

TECHNICIANS, fit-out specialists and suburban leasing agents were burning the midnight-oil in Mulgrave, in the hours following a disastrous fire that almost gutted Silver Top Taxis’ Collingwood headquarters on Tuesday.
 
Within eight hours of the fire which destroyed Silver Top’s inner-city office and call centre, management was signing a six month lease for a 776 square metre building at Miles Street, an office and call centre until recently occupied by National Hearing.

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Four Victorian Winners at National HIA Industry Association Award Night

Under the MoonlightA luxury chalet in the Alpine village of Dinner Plain, was one of four Victorian entrants to win awards at a national Housing Industry Association award ceremony, held last month.
 
The R&R Van Heek Builders designed home, Under the Moonlight, won the Colorbond Most Innovative Use of Steel Project of the Year. HIA judges said the home “commands attention and yet does not over-impose on the area’s natural landscape.”
 
R & R Van Heek Builders recently relocated its business from Dinner Plain to Darwin.

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Camberwell Junction’s Former Henley Honda Site to be Developed Within Months

Aerial CamberwellFKP Property Group expects to start marketing apartments on its controversial former Henley Honda site at the Camberwell Junction within months.
 
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has approved a revised proposal by FKP, in which it asked to build 38 more apartments within the walls of two apartment towers it won approval to build last year.
 
An FKP spokesman said “significant changes” in the property market in the latter part of last year, led the Queensland-based developer to change 2008-approved plans for the East Hawthorn project branded Aerial.

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$260 Million Redevelopment of Melbourne’s Windsor Hotel Has Lord Mayor Support

Windsor Hotel RedevelopmentPLANS to develop a 92-metre office building in the shape of a curtain, behind Melbourne’s historic Windsor Hotel, have been met with a lukewarm public reception – but has won the support of Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.

Land at the rear of the Spring Street hotel, opposite Parliament House, is earmarked for a $260 million, 25-level office building. An art deco building on the corner of Bourke Street – formerly home to Melbourne’s Hard Rock Cafe venture – will be demolished to make way for a new modern structure.

The Windsor Hotel’s famous “Cricketers Bar” will be demolished to make way for a new foyer. The new project is designed by architect Denton Corker Marshall.

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One Martin Street Sydney Half-Share Sale May be Off The Table

THE high profile campaign to sell a half share interest in Sydney’s landmark One Martin Place office building may be off the table.

The two Macquarie trusts which owns the asset, are reported to be holding onto the office tower, which is used as Macquarie’s headquarters. The building’s entire value fell from $530 million to $485 million in December, according to Macquarie. It was hoping to achieve more than $200 million for a half share, but has failed.

Macquarie has a $128.9 million debt expiry at the end of August.

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Westpac Funds Management Recovers $10.4 Million From Sale of Six Victorian Retail Assets

WESTPAC Funds Management Limited has reaped $10.4 million from the sale of six retail assets it put to the market earlier this year.
 
The most expensive property sold was in the south-eastern suburb of Springvale, where a Hungry Jacks leased restaurant at 19 – 21 Springvale Road sold for $2.3 million, on a yield of 5.75 per cent. A Hungry Jacks restaurant at the busy corner of Hume Highway and Camp Road sold for $2.2 million, on a yield of 6.04 per cent.

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Macquarie Office Trust Shuts 171 Collins Street

MACQUARIE Office Trust has closed pedestrian access to its 171 Collins Street shopping centre and office building, a year after challenging a landmark planning precedent that more than doubled the regulated height of a building in the Central Business District’s “Swanston Street spine”.

The building, which includes several ground floor shops, is expected to remain boarded up and vacant for however long it takes for the site to be developed.

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Former Flinkiers Footscray Site Sold to Residential Developer

Footscray stationA massive Footscray property – occupied for years by used car dealership Flinkiers – has sold for $5.25 million, and is expected to be developed into one of the inner-city suburb’s tallest buildings.

Fitzroys selling agent Julian Heatherich said a private developer has snapped up the 5,320 square metre development site, which fronts Hopkins, Whitehall and Warde streets, about five kilometres west of town and near the Maribyrnong River and West Melbourne suburb border.

The site is expected to make way for a 10-level mixed use building incorporating ground floor retail, and apartments and which would offer postcard CBD views over the river.

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Woolworths, Ritchie’s Supermarkets Lodge Plans to Open in Phillip Island

Fairy PenguinsWoolworths has lodged plans to build a new supermarket and shopping centre on a prominent Phillip Island caravan park it bought as a development site about two years ago.
 
The Boomerang Caravan Park site at 121 Thompson Road in the island’s main township of Cowes, is expected to close in May 2011 when an existing lease arrangement between Woolworths and the park operator lapses.
 
Sources say the proposed new development will include a 3,200 square metre Safeway supermarket, and about nine specialty shops totaling 1,408 square metres. It’s understood the project could have an end value of more than $20 million, but this could not be confirmed with a Woolworths representative, who failed to return calls.

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SKM May Leave Armadale Home, for CBD

THE ritzy south-eastern suburb of Armadale is about to lose one of its biggest office tenants, if speculation engineering, science and project delivery giant Sinclair Knight Merz has found a new city headquarters are true.
 
Well placed industry sources say the Orrong Road based consultancy is formalising plans to lease about 12,000 square metres of CBD office space, with Stockland’s 452 Flinders Street building understood to be the frontrunner.

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Cornerstone Administrators Close to Selling Remaining Pub Portfolio

COMPUTERSHARE boss Chris Morris is in negotiations to buy nine Victorian hotels, the remaining properties in a portfolio being offloaded by the beleagured Cornerstone Hotels group.

The properties include South Yarrra’s Botanical, Brighton’s Half Moon Bay, Kew’s Skinny Dog, Prahran’s Lucky Coq, Fitzroy’s Bimbo Deluxe and Collingwood’s The Tote – which are all close to sale for an as-yet undisclosed sum.

Mr Morris has owned Victoria’s popular Portsea Pub since 1999. Last year he purchased the Empire Beer Group, which gave him ownership of the Royal in East Perth, and a new brewery in Margaret River.

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New Retail Laneway Planned For Melbourne’s Southern Cross Hotel Site

FORTY FIVE years after Beatles fans famously made the street’s around Southern Cross Hotel a chaos zone, the next stage of the site’s redevelopment into a mixed-use working and shopping mecca is about to be unveiled.
 
Southern Cross Lane, the city’s latest polished laneway, will open in mid-October, wedged between two shiny glass office buildings connecting Little Collins and Bourke streets.

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Wesfarmers-owned OAMPS, Irwinconsult Fill New Becton East Melbourne Office

WESFARMERS owned insurance and financial services provider OAMPS has leased the last chunk of office space, in a distinctive new Becton building opposite the Treasury Gardens on the city’s eastern fringe.
 
OAMPS will lease 2,568 square metres of high end office space at 289 Wellington Parade South, in East Melbourne, relocating from an office at 176 Wellington Parade nearby.
 
Engineering consulting firm Irwinconsult has leased 1,868 square metres and will relocate from Southbank.

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Major Development Mooted Opposite Balwyn Theatre

THE Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has approved a major mixed use development, for a site opposite the popular Balwyn Theatre.
 
The owner of the 188 Whitehorse Road Balwyn site, represented by town planner Urbis JHD, plans to build a 3-storey building comprising a 2,412 square metre supermarket, two levels of offices totalling 3,565 square metres, and 213 car spaces. The development, which will also be accessed via Jersey Street, was approved by VCAT with some amendments. It’s speculated the project could have an end value of between $20 million and $25 million.

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Bridgewater Aged Care, Roxburgh Park, to be Sold

ELEVEN months after being placed into administration, Roxburgh Park’s near-new Bridgewater aged care facility has been put up for public sale.
 
The 132-bed nursing home shut its doors late last year, forcing the relocation of residents who had paid large admission fees to buy into the five-year old Wedgewood Road facility. Bridgewater was reported to have breached several health regulations, but there were also examples of financial mismanagement, with the company owing creditors about $1.5 million, and staff about $500,000 in entitlements at the time of its collapse – money not expected to be repaid.

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Victorian Farmers Federation to Sell 24 Collins Street

THE Victorian Farmers Federation has outgrown and will sell an “under-utilised” office building at Collins Street’s Paris-end.
 
The 40-year old office at 24 Collins Street is expected to sell for between $16 million and $19 million, sources say, reflecting a yield of between 6 and 7 per cent, based on the building’s potential annual rental income of $1.1 million.

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Colonial First State to Reap $59 Million From 215 Spring Street Sale

COLONIAL First State will reap $59 million from the sale of its 215 Spring Street office building, once the headquarters of professional services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
 
Private investor and developer the Knowles Group has purchased the 22-year old, 9-level building which has three street frontages and is opposite a Parliament train station entrance, and the Parliament Gardens.
 
CFS, via a previous Commonwealth Bank association, paid $42 million for the 15,549 square metre office in March 2000.

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Brighton home sells for record $15.5m

Brighton Beach
A NEW price record is believed to have been quietly set for the ritzy bayside suburb of Brighton.
 
Sources say an undisclosed Geelong-based business identity has agreed to pay about $15.5 million for a waterfront mansion at 25 – 27 Glyndon Road, in the suburb’s “Golden Mile”.
 
The 5-bedroom mansion has a 59-metre water frontage, and includes a tennis court, swimming pool, spa, sauna, gym, home theatre and rooftop entertainment area.

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Prominent Geelong Silos to be Redeveloped into Apartments

Geelong SilosGREY concrete silos – for generations a prominent landmark on the drive into central Geelong –  are to be sold, and may be redeveloped into the city’s next social housing project.
 
The vendor of the property, Printco Signage director Neil Slater, can expect to make about $3 million sources say, from the 46 – 48 Mercer Street development site. The property abuts the Geelong train station –  the only train station in the city’s Central Activity District.
 
The six-tube silos will be sold with a permit for an 8-level, 40-unit apartment project which would offer Corio Bay views.

The silo project was recently registered on the Federal government’s National Affordable Rental Incentive Scheme, and the Nation Building – Economic Stimulus plan, which will make it attractive to private social housing developers, Kelemen Commercial selling agent Craig Ferguson said.

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Ron Clarke’s Former Brighton Mansion Sold For $12 Million, Apartments Planned

THE FORMER Brighton home of Olympian-turned Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke is believed to have sold for about $12 million, and will be developed into apartments.
 
Boutique builder L & D O’Brien Holdings Pty Ltd has purchased the imposing but rundown 1 Bay Street mansion, which occupies a prominent waterfront position overlooking Port Phillip and the Middle Brighton Baths.

The home will be demolished to make way for a luxury apartment complex of at least six units, sources say. JP Dixon’s Jonathan Dixon is marketing the units but was unavailable for comment.

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3AW South Melbourne Studios to Become Apartments

FAIRFAX Media has reaped more than $5.5 million from the sale of its outgoing 43 Bank Street studio in South Melbourne.
 
A residential developer will build a high rise apartment complex on the site, which has been home to Fairfax Media-owned Southern Cross Broadcasting since 1991. The 2,600 square metre building – which is expected to be demolished – is home to talkback radio station 3AW693, and music station Magic1278.
 
When the 1,441 square metre development site came on the market last month, it was expected to sell for about $4.5 million. Lemon Baxter marketed the property.

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Phillip Island’s Former Warley Hospital Sells

Former Warley HospitalTHE former Warley Hospital, which supported Phillip Island’s small but fluctuating population since 1923, is understood to have sold to developers.
 
Local industry sources expect the 4,106 square metre site will be developed into apartments over the next couple of years, but this could not be confirmed with Judith Wright selling agent Mike Foenander, who was unavailable for comment.
 
The hospital site is one block west from the main street of Phillip Island’s town centre, Cowes.

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Julliard Group Pays Salta $18.9 Million For Port Melbourne Asset

PRIVATE investment group the Julliard Group has paid $18.9 million for a Port Melbourne commercial asset.

The fully-leased building at 1 – 23 Wirraway Drive sold on a yield of 8.3 per cent, based on the building’s annual income of $1.583 million.

The building was offloaded by private developer Salta Property Group, which last week sold another asset in Port Melbourne before a scheduled auction.

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Google Launches New Free Property Listing Service

HOUSE hunting is about to become a lot easier, after internet giant Google launched a free property listing service for property sales and leases.

The new feature aggregates listings from real estate agents, and other people marketing their homes, and displays them as pins on Google maps. Web users can enter details such as property type, number of bedrooms, and price, and then search using an interactive map.

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Watpac to Build $62 Million RMIT Building on Former Carlton & United Brewery Site, Melbourne

RMIT Cub BuildingWatpac Limited’s (ASX: WTP) Construction division has been awarded the construction of the RMIT University Design Hub, with a contract sum of $62 million.

The high-profile project will be located at the strategic north-west corner of Swanston and Victoria Streets, on the site of the former Carlton United brewery.

Watpac Construction National General Manager, Martin Monro, said the award of this landmark project represented a key milestone in the company’s strategy of growth in the Victorian market.

“Watpac has worked diligently to expand our Construction division in Victoria, and the award of this significant project—our largest to date in this market—is an endorsement of our team and their dedication to building on our reputation for excellence and quality,” Mr Monro said.

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$200 Million College Set For Opposite Queen Victoria Market

A $200 million Business and IT-focussed college, and student accommodation apartment complex will be developed on the prominent City Mazda car dealership, opposite the southern boundary of Melbourne’s popular Queen Victoria Market.

The Melbourne Institute of Technology, headed by Shesh Ghale, has paid $16.2 million for a portion of the dealership, which will make way for a new college campus capable of accommodating 3000 students, and an apartment tower. The development is estimated to have an end value of between $150 million and $200 million.

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Redcourt Mansion Armadale to be Restored into Family Home

PROPERTY INVESTOR Adam Garrison is believed to be the mystery buyer of a 14-bedroom “renovation rescue” in Armadale.
 
The co-founder of charitable restaurant Fifteen Melbourne – and until recently the part owner in Spring Street’s iconic Windsor Hotel – plans to fully restore the heritage listed Redcourt mansion on Orrong Road into a family home, a move which some speculate could cost more than $2 million.

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Aspen Group to Sell Controversial 48 Hectare Dromana Site

PERTH-based developer Aspen Group has quietly listed for sale a controversial 48 hectare Mornington Peninsula property it acquired as a “green wedge” zoned site two years ago and had rezoned.
 
The Dromana property at 143 Nepean Highway, is a resort development site and will be sold with a permit for an 80-room hotel, a function centre, winery, restaurant, golf driving range and 472-site caravan and camping ground.

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Le Louvre to Leave Collins Street For South Yarra

Le Louvre Collins StreetMELBOURNE establishment frock shop Le Louvre will leave its long time home at 74 Collins Street, and relocate to South Yarra.

Boutique owner Georgina Weir has sold the prominent 3-level 1855 building to Queensland Investment Corporation, which owns the 50-plus level Nauru House office building behind Le Louvre.

Le Louvre stood in the way of a $500 million mixed use village of high rise offices, and a shopping arcade proposed by QIC for the Nauru House forecourt last year.

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Heritage Williamstown house vandalised

VANDALS have damaged the already dilapidated Williamstown house at the centre of a conservation row (and residential development site) in Melbourne’s south-west.
 
After a complaint by the Hobsons Bay City Council, Heritage Victoria has ordered the property’s owner, Hoppers Crossing pensioner Gary Page erect a new fence around the crumbling home – which occupies a corner of an 839 square metre site his family has owned since 1964 and used as storage for a family business.
 
Mr Page listed the Aitken Street site for sale in April to help pay his living costs, after the global financial crisis saw his superannuation value plummet. 

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Commission Flats Earmarked for Melbourne CBD Gateway Site

A LANDMARK CBD building – formerly the Department of Defence Drill Hall – will be developed into Melbourne’s next social housing project.
 
The State Government has sold the prominent 74-year old Art Deco building – with its distinguished double storey pillars – to social housing developer Melbourne Affordable Housing which plans to build an 8-level, 59-unit tower on the triangle site.
 
At an estimated cost of about $30 million, the “gateway” development is mooted for the junction where Victoria Street meets Therry Street, opposite the Ibis Hotel, and the Carlton suburb border.
 

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Australia’s First K-Mart Centre to Double in Size

THE SHOPPING centre where Australia’s first K-Mart opened in 1969, is set to undergo a major extension and renovation.
 
The owners of the K-Mart Plaza, also known as the East Burwood Plaza, will double the size of the complex, on the corner of Burwood Highway and Blackburn Road, from 15,000 square metres to 30,000 square metres.
 
Pomeroy Pacific development manager Paul Chiodo said the $35 million extension will add about 30 specialty shops, a 5,500 square metre Coles supermarket, a 333 seat restaurant, gymnasium, and a First Choice bottle shop. The extension will be built over an an existing car park, on the western side of the 6.3 hectare site.

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Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue Former Australian Homes For Rent

Jason Donovan and Kylie MinogueTHE TOORAK home until recently owned by entertainer Jason Donovan has come onto the market, as a rental.
 
The UK-based Donovan sold the 4-bedroom English style home at 1 Torresdale Court early last month for about $2.7 million, pocketing a nifty profit on the $1.2 million he paid eight years earlier. Marshall White is now marketing the property for lease at $1,500 per week.

Donovan, with partner Angela Malloch and their two children, will live full time in Notting Hill where the actor has landed a role in the London stage version of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The family is expected to eventually buy a smaller Melbourne base.

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Andrew Myer to Reap $55 Million From The Well Shopping Centre, Camberwell

Andrew MyerANDREW Myer has decided to sell his Camberwell shopping centre, The Well.
 
The son of late philanthropist Ken Myer and grandson of Myer department store founder Sidney Myer, can expect to make about $55 million for the 9,240 square metre centre.
 
The Well opened eight months ago and includes about 30 speciality shops, a 1,202 square metre JB Hi Fi and a 2,812 square metre Coles supermarket.

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Vacant “Sofia Restaurant” Site to Become 7-Level Hotel

Sofia's CamberwellPLANS to develop a 7-level, 82-room boutique hotel in Camberwell’s ritzy Burke Road shopping strip, have been approved by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
 
The hotel will be developed at 851 – 855 Burke Road, behind the National Trust protected red brick walls of a former State Savings Bank. The property is known locally as “The Sophia Restaurant” site, being next door to the popular local dining institution.

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Mirvac on Track to Redevelop Scoresby Austral Bricks Site into 1000 Lot Estate

PLANS to redevelop the 56 hectare Austral Bricks quarry in Scoresby, and part of Wantirna South, are “well progressed”.
 
Sydney-based developer Mirvac said it has applied to subdivide the massive property into about 1,000 housing lots, which will eventually accommodate a mix of 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom terrace and freestanding homes. A new mixed use shopping centre will also be developed on the site, about 25 kilometres south-east of town.

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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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New Victorian Urban Growth Boundary Proposed: Government Statements and Fast Facts

The public and community have been invited to make submissions on the proposed changes to Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) flagged last December in the Brumby Labor Government’s Melbourne @ 5 Million strategy.
 

Planning Minister Justin Madden today released the draft UGB as part of the Brumby Labor Government’s Delivering Melbourne’s Newest Sustainable Communities package.

The draft UGB also incorporates the proposed alignment of the Outer Metropolitan Ring Road, proposed alignment of the Regional Rail Link and the creation of two new grassland protected areas in Melbourne’s west.

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VicUrban Keeps Point Cook Site, But Puts Officer on the Market

VICURBAN has abandoned plans to sell a development site within its Boardwalk Estate at the Point Cook Town Centre, 20 kilometres west of Melbourne.
 
General manager urban and provincial communities for Vicurban, Rob Vines, told The Age the bidding process, engaged earlier this year, did not result in the outcomes sought by the group for the site. The Boardwalk estate will eventually include a primary school, Catholic high school, child care facility, community centre, football oval and general store.

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Eastern Golf Club to be sold for housing

Tullamore Homestead, Eastern Golf Course, DoncasterEASTERN GOLF Club board members will sell their massive Doncaster golf course, paving the way for a mixed use development of bulky good shops, offices, apartment towers and houses, with a potential end value of more than $1 billion.
 
The 48-hectare property, accessed by more than 12 suburban streets, is expected to sell for about $100 million to a developer, which sources expect will capitalise on the prominent Doncaster Road frontage with commercial and high density residential buildings, and subdivide what is currently an 18-hole golf course, into more than 1,000 housing lots.

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Origin Employs Jamie Durie Team to Design Rooftop Office Garden

GARDENER turned US-talk show regular Jamie Durie and celebrity chef Tobie Pollock braved a cold Melbourne morning, to launch an “outdoor room”, on a seventh floor balcony of the 271 Collins Street office building, the former headquarters of the National Australia Bank.
 
The Original National Customer Contact Centre was designed by Durie’s PATIO team, and landscape designer Ian Barker and Associates as a space “to encourage creativity and outdoor activity, while providing a place for Origin’s people to relax and interact in an engaging, communal setting.”

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PCG Group Appoints David Barnard as Director

Workplace expert Project Control Group Pty Ltd (PCG) has appointed David Barnard as Director to their Melbourne business providing independent property advisory and project services to  Melbourne’s business community. Mr Barnard brings to PCG 18 years experience in assisting major corporate tenants manage and optimise their business space agendas and delivering workplace and facility projects in accordance with predetermined time,cost and performance aspirations. For the past 18 years Mr Barnard has successfully fulfilled various corporate property roles within the ANZ Bank including Head of Property for ANZ National in New Zealand and prior to that senior positions with Baulderstone Hornibrook.

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