Victoria 

Pratt Family’s Investment Vehicle to Redevelop California Hotel Site, Hawthorn, Into Aged Care Facility

THE development company of Melbourne’s wealthy Pratt family has won approval from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to redevelop Hawthorn’s prominent California Hotel site, into a $42 million aged care facility.
 
Thorney Holdings, the Pratt family’s investment vehicle, will demolish buildings on the 138 Barkers Road site, opposite Xavier College’s Jackson Oval, and replace it with a 5-level, 85-unit facility with basement car parking.
 
The development will replace the 82-room California Hotel facility, which was built over the Barkly train station, which closed in 1957 according to council records. 

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Victoria 

Eaglemont Office Sells For $11.35 Million

THE suburban office opposite two billabongs, a pond, Yarra Flats and the Yarra River – has sold to a private investor for $11.35 million.
 
The modest single-level 3,216 square metre office at 677 The Boulevard, in Heidelberg’s ritzy pocket of Eaglemont, is leased to charity group Berry Street Victoria until 2018.
 
Based on the building’s current annual rent of $951,000, Colliers International selling agent Peter Bremner said the property sold on a yield of 8.38 per cent.

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Victoria 

Supermarket Built Into The Walls of Melbourne’s Former Bullring, Expected to Fetch $14 Million

THE supermarket and office complex built into the walls and roof of Fitzroy’s former Latino dance mecca, the Bullring, has quietly been listed for tender, and is expected to fetch about $14 million.
 
Icon Constructions redeveloped the former club into a major supermarket and office complex, with a 136-bay car park. Beller Commercial’s Fred Nucara is marketing the property with Vinci Carbone. Coles contributes to 73 per cent of the building’s annual $953,000 rent.

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Victoria 

Global Campus Management Administration Leaves Half a Docklands Office Building Vacant

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ALMOST half of an unfinished Docklands office building will be offered for lease, after education service provider Global Campus Management – which agreed to lease space at 717 Bourke Street to accommodate fashion university ESMOD – went into voluntary administration last Thursday.
 
ESMOD was to have occupied 18,000 square metres of the distinctive 37,000 square metre building which will also be home to petroleum giant BP upon completion in July next year.
 
GCM is a minority shareholder in the Bourke Street building, on the south-west corner of Wurundjeri Way, which was developed by Babcock & Brown and architect Metier 3.

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Victoria 

Wadhawan Group’s Construction Company, DEC, Arrives in Melbourne

VICTORIAN planning minister Justin Madden will exit a parliamentary sitting later this month to welcome Indian billionaire Rakesh Wadhawan’s property development business to Melbourne.
 
Mr Madden is one of several special guests confirmed to attend the lavish company launch at Crown Palladium on November 11, joining former sporting great Steve Waugh, who is rumoured to be attending, and members of the Victorian Bushrangers and New Zealand cricket teams, which Mr Wadhawan’s construction company, DEC, now sponsors.

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Avon Court
Victoria 

Clinton Casey’s Outgoing Avon Court Mansion, Hawthorn, Expected to Set New Price Record

Avon Court, HawthornFORMER Richmond Football club president Clinton Casey can expect to make about $16 million from the sale of his Avon Court mansion, in Melbourne’s ritzy eastern suburb of Hawthorn – setting a new price record for the suburb.

The 4,645 square metre estate includes a 4-storey historic and heritage protected mansion, swimming pool and tennis court.

Mr Casey paid $5.7 million for the property in 2003 before undertaking a major renovation.

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Victoria 

Google to Re-Drive Australia’s Capital City Streets This Summer

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MOW your lawns, prune your gardens – and don’t park your car where it shouldn’t be seen – for the summer of 2010 anyway.
 
Google, the online resource which through its Google Maps and Street View functions has attracted a swarm of real estate voyeurs globally – will re-drive the streets of metropolitan capital cities this summer including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and parts of Tasmania.

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Victoria 

High Rise Apartments Planned For Prominent Site, Opposite Flemington Racecourse Entrance

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FOR the week of the Spring Racing Carnival, it’s arguably Melbourne’s busiest roundabout.
 
But when revellers return to the races next year – things could very different at the frantic intersection of Ascot Vale, Epsom and Racecourse roads, near the main Flemington Racecourse entrance.
 
The owner of the prominent 1 Ascot Vale Road site, Flemington Development Company, is preparing to lodge plans to develop an environmentally sustainable 20-level apartment tower, on what is now the Racecourse Tavern, Epsom Bistro, a bottle shop, motel and car park. 

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Victoria 

Leaseplan May Quit St Kilda Road for South Wharf

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THE owners of the $750 million South Wharf development, at the point where Southbank meets Docklands, may have snared another major office tenant from St Kilda Road.
 
Car leasing giant Leaseplan is understood to have leased about 4,000 square metres at the 12-level South Wharf office tower, part of a massive riverfront development that also includes the new DFO South Wharf, and a 396-room Hilton Hotel. 

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Victoria 

Ex-Kangaroo Shannon Grant to Sell Mordialloc Beach Front Property

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FORMER AFL Premiership player Shannon Grant is selling an investment property at 180 Beach Road in Mordialloc.
 
The modest three-bedroom, single level home, on a 653 square metre block, is expected to sell at auction next month for around $1.250 million, according to Hocking Stuart Brighton selling agents Rod Richardson and Stuart Kelso who is auctioning the property at 3:30pm on November 28.
 

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Victoria 

Sisters of Nazareth to Make $20 Million For 2.6 Ha Slice of Camberwell Backyard

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THE SISTERS of Nazareth can expect to make about $20 million from a major slice of land behind its Nazareth House aged care facility, in Camberwell.
 
The 2.6 hectare vacant block is expected to wind up in the hands of a major developer, who will capitalise on the sites location abutting parkland, presumably with a medium-density apartment development.

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Victoria 

Box Hill Leasing Activity

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The once troubled Box Hill office market is enjoying record low vacancy, after a string of lease deals totaling almost 3000 square metres.

The biggest deals were to software management group ManageSoft, which will lease 728 square metres at 18 – 20 Prospect Street, and healthcare merchandiser Melaleuca, which will lease 506 square metres at 826 Whitehorse Road.

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Victoria 

Juilliard Group Buys 414 La Trobe Street For Close to $50 Million

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BRITISH 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.

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Victoria 

Huge Docklands Nightclub Approved by Vic Planning Minister Justin Madden

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PLANS 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 Clocktower
Victoria 

Ringwood Clocktower to be Replaced with a Bus Lane: Victorian Department of Transport Proposal

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Ringwood ClocktowerRINGWOOD’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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Victoria 

Mount Scopas to Sell Former Tudor Court Reception Centre

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Prestigious eastern suburb college Mount Scopus is on the verge of selling a Caulfield North mansion and development site it had intended to use as a new school campus. Teska Carson selling agent Michael Ludski, who is marketing the property with Gross Waddell’s Michael Gross, says a decision is days away.

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Rippon Lea
Victoria 

ABC’s Slice of Rippon Lea Estate, Elsternwick, Expected to Sell For More than $25 Million

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Rippon LeaAN 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. 

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Victoria 

Patrick Handbury to Sell Geelong Waterfront Mansion

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.
 

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Victoria 

Southern Cross Broadcasting’s Outgoing South Melbourne Office to Become Hotel and Apartment Complex

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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.
 

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Victoria 

Ascot Vale’s Former Marivale Nursing Home to Fetch $3.5 Million as Residential Development Site

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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.

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101 York Street
Victoria 

Mitchell Communication Group to Start Construction of New $30 Million South Melbourne Headquarters

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101 York StreetADVERTISING 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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Victoria 

Genesis to Build $10 Million Gym at University Hill, Bundoora

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. 

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Victoria 

Forges of Footscray to Become Fresh Food and Variety Goods Market

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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.

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Victoria 

Australian Businessmen Working on Dubai’s Waterfront Development Released

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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.

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Victoria 

Four 40-Level Apartment Towers Planned For Former Lonsdale Street Power Station, Melbourne

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A 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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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.
Victoria 

Melbourne’s Former Australian Stock Exchange Building to be Redeveloped Into Apartments

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.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. 

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Victoria 

Indonesian Timber Merchant Pays $24.3 Million For Major Box Hill Office, Melbourne

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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.

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Victoria 

Former Christian Guest House, Murrumbeena, Sold For $6.15 Million to Apartment Developer

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.

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Justin Madden
Victoria 

ALP Backflips on Controversial Growth Areas Tax

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Justin MaddenTHE 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
Victoria 

DFO South Wharf Opens Today, as Outgoing Spencer DFO Converted to Mainstream Mall

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DFODFO 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.

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Victoria 

Booth Transport, Toll, Contribute to Major Industrial Lease Deals, Melbourne

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DEMAND 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.

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Victoria 

Austfin Pays $10 Million For Office Component of Richmond Development

THE 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.

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