Advanced Paediatric Life Support Leases New Melbourne CBD HQ
Advanced Paediatric Life Support will quit Melbourne’s inner-city of Collingwood (pictured, right), for a sophisticated new city head office. APLS
Read more
Lachlan Murdoch buys Bellevue Hill’s Le Manoir
THE eldest son of News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan, has paid $23 million for Le Manoir, in Sydney’s east
Read moreColes, Woolies Fail to Reply to ACCC Questions
SUPERMARKET giants Coles and Woolworths have not yet responded to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, regarding claims they restrict competition by blocking rival supermarkets opening nearby. The ACCC uncovered the potential breaches of the Trades Practices Act as part of the 2008 grocery inquiry.
Coles has not responded to repeated requests by the ACCC, while Woolworths is referring its question to the National Retailers Association, a Woolies spokeswoman telling the AFR “We’re not going to be commenting and we’re referring all comment to the retailers’ association…because this is regarding retailers’ leases and there are many retailers.”
Read moreUndabri Merino Stud Farm Sells For More Than $13 Million
A Queensland based property investor has paid more than $13 million for the former Undabri Merino stud farm in south-east Queensland.
Read more
Dermott Brereton sells Brighton duplex
Footballer turned commentator Dermott Brereton has sold a near-new duplex in Brighton’s William Street. The double-storey dwelling with three bedrooms
Read morePRC, Russell Crowe, Tipped to Bid For $15 Million Bellevue Hill Mansion, Sydney
THE People’s Republic of China is expected to take on New Zealand actor Russell Crowe, in bidding for a $15 million Sydney mansion, once used by the French government as a consulate.
The Victoria Road estate, Le Manoir, will be auctioned this evening at an invitation-only event in which prospective buyers have to make a refundable $50,000 deposit, just to make a bid.
Read moreGPT sells more resorts
THE GPT Group is continuing to offload its major hospitality assets, with resorts in Western Australia’s Kimberley region and the Northern Territory confirmed as sold.
United States based Delaware North has purchased GPT’s Great Barrier Reef resorts on Lizard Island, Heron Island and Wilson Island, as well as the Kings Canyon Resort in the Northern Territory and the El Questro Wilderness Park in Western Australia. Melbourne-based businessman Paul Van Min has snapped up the Silky Oaks Lodge in Queensland’s Daintree Forest.
Read moreHousing affordability sidelined in Budget
Tuesday’s State Budget missed an opportunity to comprehensively address the issue of housing affordability, according to The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ).
Read more
Victoria’s Highest Priced Home Still Unsettled
THE agency selling the Toorak mansion expected to smash Victoria’s residential price record is still confident of a sale despite the bleak global economic backdrop.
The 3 Towers Road mansion of London-based mining speculator Socrates Vasiliades was listed for sale in May with price expectations of about $30 million.
An Expression of Interest campaign managed by Kay & Burton’s Ross Savas closed a month ago but the house still appears on industry websites as a current campaign.
Read moreStockland Close to selling 234 Sussex Street For $40 Million
STOCKLAND is believed to be making about $40 million from the sale of its 234 Sussex Street office, in the
Read more
GPT May Split Oz and European Assets, as Part of New Strategy
THE giant GPT Group is understood to be entertaining a plan to split its commercial property assets into two separate vehicles, designed to make the group look more appealing to investors, and improve the group’s negotiation position with banks.
The proposal will see Australian owned office towers and shopping centres managed by one fund, and a swag of “toxic” European assets (owned with failed investment group Babcock & Brown), managed by another fund.
The decision follows capital raisings to the tune of more than $1.7 billion, since GPT’s new chief executive and former banker Michael Cameron took the helm on May 1. In total the group has raised about $3.3 billion in the past 18 months.
Read more
MAB Unveils Docklands Newest Street: Millionaires Only
DOCKLANDS newest street – overlooking the water – and developed only with multimillion dollar townhouses – was launched earlier this month.
MAB Corporation sold all 18 low-rise homes marketed as Marina Residences prior to completion and for prices of up to $4.65 million.
The homes, each with water and city views, were developed over a reconstructed wharf in the developer’s NewQuay precinct. Each includes a plunge pool, four car garage, home theatre, home office and outdoor terrace.
Singaporean Investor Pays $75 Million For 20 Hunter Street, Sydney
A SINGAPOREAN investor is believed to have paid about $75 million for an office at 20 Hunter Street in Sydney.
Read moreBusiness confidence up in June: NAB
National business confidence rose in the June quarter. The NAB Business Confidence Index increased 20 per cent to -4, an
Read moreRegional centres set Qld property market pace
If you want to find the star performers of the Queensland property market, you just need to look to the north and to the west.
Read more
Salta Looks to Build on More Land Around Victoria Gardens, Richmond
LOCAL developer Salta is pushing ahead with plans to build apartments on undeveloped pieces of land immediately surrounding the Victoria Gardens shopping centre, on the Richmond riverfront.
It’s applied to the Yarra City Council to build 405 flats within new complexes between 25 – 35 River Boulevard and at 15 Christine Crescent. The proposed developments would add 480 permanent car spaces and 30 visitor spots to the area, which is not serviced by a train.
Salta acquired the former Melbourne Fire Brigade land where Victoria Gardens was built in stages. With its last major purchase in 2004, it seized control of every corner at the busy intersection of Burnley, Walmer and Victoria streets.
Read moreChallenger sells George Street Cinema
CHALLENGER 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 more
Aldi to Build 500 More Australian Stores
GERMAN supermarket giant Aldi plans to open about 500 new supermarkets on Australia’s east coast, bringing its national total to more than 700.
In Victoria, new supermarkets are earmarked for Abbotsford, Albury, Caroline Springs, Maryborough and Strathdale. By the end of the year, the state will have 75 Aldi supermarkets, up from 69 now. It’s been reported new stores are also earmarked for Geelong’s Newcomb, Hamilton, Horsham, Morwell, Preston, Sebastapol, Swan Hill and Warragul.
Read moreREIQ wins Consumer Protection Award
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) has won a 2007 Queensland Consumer Protection Award.
Read more
Hawthorn FC Executive Stuart Fox to Sell Gherang Estate
HAWTHORN Football Club chief executive Stuart Fox, and wife Sybella, are selling the Wirraminna farm they acquired in 2002 in Gherang, via Moriac – some 10 minutes north east of Anglesea, and 15 minutes east of Torquay.
Translated as “peaceful beside the water”, Wirraminna spreads over two hectares and includes three rainwater tanks, two paddocks and a dam which could accommodate horses or cattle.
Read moreGPT Sells Four Points by Sheraton For $185 Million
AN 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 moreSquatters Live Rent Free in London’s Billionaire Row, While Renovating Mansion
WORK is underway to renovate a rundown property in the ritzy North London Hampstead street dubbed “billionaires row”.
Four tradespeople are living rent-free at the rundown 8-bedroom, 3-storey home in The Bishops Avenue, a street which is also home to the Saudi and Brunei royal families and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.
The home has been vacant for about ten years, London’s The Sun newspaper reports, and is being lived in rent-free by the tradespeople which includes three Romanians and a Frenchman.
Read moreHousing affordability strategy welcomed
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) welcomes the release today of the State Government’s housing affordability strategy.
Read more
Ramsay Street Values Surge to Well Above Metropolitan Melbourne Average
THE private owners of homes in Pin Oak Court, Vermont South (which is beamed across the world as Ramsay Street, Erinsborough in TV show Neighbours and pictured, right) must be pleased with impressive recent sale results in the area.
Vermont South, some 20 kilometres east of the CBD, was part-chosen for its proximity to Forest Hill studios used by network producers when Neighbours was first mooted in the mid 1980s.
Read moreCostco to open at Auburn next year
Costco is proposing a $55.4 million store and office at a site in Sydney’s western Auburn. Expected to open late
Read more
ACCC Condones Commonwealth Bank’s Actions Despite Warnings it Could Disadvantage Consumers
The Commonwealth Bank has been accused of using its market dominance to try and reduce competition in the $700 billion home lending market.
In a move condoned by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the CBA has told 8000 mortgage brokers they won’t be able to offer the bank’s home loans in future, if they fail to write enough business for them.
In a letter sent from the CBA to Queensland mortgage broker Wayne Ormond last month, the bank insists each of his company’s mortgage brokers must now submit four home loans per quarter. Mr Ormond’s company, Refund Home Loans employed 270 brokers, meaning the bank expected about 4,320 applications per year.
Read moreRate rise blow for affordability
Housing affordability has taken another hit following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision today to increase the cash rate by 25 basis points to 6.5 per cent.
Read more
VCAT Approves Construction of Luxury Home Overlooking Controversial Mount Martha Beach
EXHIBITIONIST sunbakers and adventurist gays visiting Mount Eliza’s Sunnyside beaches might have to contend with the sight and sound of construction workers for a few years longer.
Millionaire horse trainer Jonathan Munz has successfully lobbied the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a permit to build a luxury home and tennis court on a waterfront piece of his landmark Pinecliff horse training complex – near another home that was demolished in 2006.
Pinecliff, at 55-75 Sunnyside Road is on Green Wedge Zone 3 land near the YMCA’s Manyung Recreation Camp, the Morning Star Winery and Mornington Golf Club (an image of the Mount Martha coast, above).
Read moreAustraland Sells Crest Hotel, Kings Cross, For $72 Million
PROPERTY 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 more
McDonald’s to Open More than 150 Stores in The Next Five Years
FAST food giant McDonald’s expects to open 36 new restaurants in Australia this year, up from 21 new restaurants it opened last year.
McDonald’s chief executive Peter Bush said it planned to open more than 30 stores a year from 2010, a mix of company-owned and franchised stores.
By the end of this year, McDonald’s is expected to operate out of 815 retailers nationally.
Read moreBest vying for State’s top awards
Real estate agencies big and small, residential and commercial, as well as agents new and established are vying for the State’s most prestigious property awards.
Read more
Peter Mac East Melbourne Hospital Closer to Hitting Market
DEVELOPERS might not have to wait much longer to get their hands on one what has for years been one of Melbourne’s most anticipated building blocks.
Sources are confident hospital Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute is one of the sickbays expected to “sell surplus property” ahead of a move to the new $1 billion Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Clinic, which is under construction at the top of the Haymarket roundabout in Carlton.
The former Royal Dental Hospital, which stood on a portion of what will be the new Victorian CCC, was demolished in August last year. The new centre is scheduled to open in 2015.
Read moreTopshop to Open in Sydney’s Oxford Street, Paddington
UNITED 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 moreTenant water usage bill statement: REIQ
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) welcomes the announcement from Premier Anna Bligh last night on legislative changes for the Water and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2007.
Read more
Westfield Lobbies Geelong Council Against Permitting Rival Shopping Centre
RETAIL giant Westfield has successfully lobbied against plans by Geelong-based builder and investor Costa Group to rezone a prominent collection of Moolap properties, including what was once a major indoor tennis centre.
Westfield, along with shopping centres Newcomb Central, Bellarine Village and local businesses argued to the Greater Geelong City Council that a rezoning request pitched by Costa – which could have allowed it to build a big shopping centre – would negatively affect designated Activity Centres allocated around Geelong’s suburbs.
Read moreGrant Thornton appointed for eco village
Grant Thornton is seeking a development partner to complete a $170 million eco village at Foster, on the New South
Read more
Al Gore to Launch Safe Climate Australia Initiative in Melbourne Next Week
ENVIRONMENTAL activist Al Gore will launch the Safe Climate Australia initiative in Melbourne next week.
VicSuper chief executive Bob Welsh has invited the former US president candidate to Australia to launch the initiative at a breakfast on Monday.
Mr Welsh is one of the biggest investors in Generation Investmnet Management, a London-based fund manager which Mr Gore chairs.
Read moreInterest rate rise
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision today to increase the cash rate by 25 basis points to 6.75 per cent is not surprising following the release of inflation figures last month.
Read more
Melbourne’s 206 Bourke Street Hits Market: $100 Million Expected
IT’S been a major department store, a flagship city-cinema complex and a problem development site.
And now – 206 Bourke Street is set to be Melbourne’s next nine-figure offering.
Private developer Les Smith with joint venture partner Macquarie Bank are selling the major 3140 square metre city block known between 1985 and 2005 as the Village City Centre, and occupied by the cinema as offices until mid-2008.
Read moreSydney’s Lane Cove Tunnel For Sale at $600 Million
THE high profile owners of Sydney’s Lane Cove Tunnel are preparing to sell the asset for around $1 billion less than what it cost to build.
ABN Amro’s Diversified Infrastructure Trust, Leighton Holdings, Mirvac, REST and Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing are amongst the owners of the 3.6 kilometre tunnel, which is expected to sell for about $600 million.
The asset will generate an income until 2037.
Read moreMacquarie Leisure Trust Sells $11 Million in Assets
Macquarie Leisure Trust Group (ASX: MLE) announced today that contracts for the sale and leaseback of AMF properties at Frankston, Woodville and Norwood, with total proceeds of $11.1 million, are now unconditional and are expected to settle in July 2009.
MLE also announced that as part of its intra group funding arrangements, a wholly owned subsidiary of Macquarie Leisure Operations Limited has issued Exchangeable Notes to Macquarie Leisure Trust to repay inter-company loans totalling $32.5 million.
Read more
Goodman Group Signs Three Industrial Leases Totaling 84,000 Square Metres
GOODMAN Group has signed three major industrial leases totaling 84,000 square metres.
Transport company Wettenhalls has signed a five year lease for a 32,600 square metre facility at Laverton North, in Melbourne’s west. Wettenhalls is paying $60 per square metre to occupy the site within Goodman’s Wyndham Distribution Centre.
The space Wettenhall is moving into was previously occupied by Kmart, which is moving to a 76,700 square metre facility at Goodman’s Banfield Distribution Centre in Truganina, also in Melbourne’s west and not far from Laverton North.
Read moreHedley Gaming & Leisure Sells Three Sydney Pubs
SYDNEY’s Canterbury Hotel is believed to be close to sale for about $8.85 million, while the Lidcombe Hotel – also in the city’s west – is believed to be selling for about $6.6 million.
The hotels, being offered by the Hedley Gaming & Leisure Fund, are part of a $400 million portfolio of assets believed to be on the market.
A third Sydney pub, the Bridgeview Hotel in Willoughby, near the Channel Nine studio, is also believed to be close to sale, for about $7.5 million.
Read moreCharter Hall Offloads Almost $170 Million in Assets
SYDNEY-based fund manager and developer Charter Hall is continuing its selling spree, offloading $170 million of office and industrial property this week.
The Core Plus Office Fund has made $60.2 million from the sale of the Victorian College of Pharmacy building at Monash University, which sold to an overseas investment group.
Other sales including Bunnings stores and a Harvey Norman, are detailed in the Charter Hall announcement below:
Read more$200 Million Resort Planned For NSW Central Coast Town of Morisset
PLANS for a $200 million resore in the NSW Central Coast town of Morisset, have been approved by the state planning department.
The Trinity Point Marina Resort will include 150 apartments, some of which will be hotel rooms, conference and function facilities, a 180 berth marina and 550 square metres of office space.
Construction of the resort is expected to start next year, or six years after the property was gazetted a tourist site.
Read moreValad Enters Deal with Bank of Scotland
SYDNEY: Valad Property Group (“Valad” or the “Group”, ASX: VPG) announced it has just signed agreements with Bank of Scotland plc (“BoS”) necessary to create the Diversified UK and European (“DUKE”) property joint venture, which has a term of three years. A small number of subsidiary documents remain to be executed and these are expected to be signed shortly.
Read moreSydney’s Australian Securities Exchange Building Close to Sale For $140 Million
HONG Kong-based CLSA Asia Pacific Markets is reported to be formalising the purchase of Sydney’s Australian Securities Exchange building, at 20 Bridge Street.
The speculated $140 million sale is expected to be finalised later this month, and would translate to a low 7 per cent yield if the building were fully occupied, which it is not.
CLSA is a brokerage and investment arm of French bank Credit Agricole, which focuses on the Asia region.
Read more
Perron Investments, ProLock to Sell 484 St Kilda Road Office, Melbourne
BILLIONAIRE West Australian investor Stan Perron, with private investor ProLock, can expect about $75 million from the sale of an
Read moreNew home sales drop but still strong: HIA
Victorian new home sales dropped by 9 per cent in May, following months of increased sales resulting from the boosted first home buyer grants.
Overall Victoria’s new home sale market is still performing impressively, with detached home sales increasing by 16 per cent over the three months to May 2009, according to the Housing Industry Association’s survey of the state’s largest builders.
“Along with other leading indicators, the figures point to a healthy new home building market in Victoria in 2009,” said HIA Victorian Executive Director Gil King.
Read more
Pace Developments Pays $7.5 Million For St Kilda Junction Development Site
BRIGHTON-based builder Pace Developments has paid $7.5 million for a residential development site at the manic St Kilda Junction.
It’s understood Pace will redevelop the 2 – 8 St Kilda Road site, in St Kilda, with a high density, high-rise apartment project.
Read moreRelease of CBD Metro Environment Plan The Beginning of a Transport Revolution For Sydney
Below is a statement from the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, regarding Sydney’s CBD environment metro plan:
The Sydney Chamber of Commerce said that the release of the environmental assessment plan for the CBD metro was the next step towards the beginning of a transport revolution for Sydney.
“Sydneysiders have rightly complained for years about the inadequacy of Sydney’s transport network, the CBD metro will be the first significant investment in many years to begin to deal with our transport congestion issues in this city,” said Patricia Forsythe, Executive Director of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce.
New Management at HIA
Housing Industry Association veteran Ron Silberberg, the man who lobbied the federal government to expand Australia’s social housing stock as part of the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Package, has decided he will retire as managing director on November 30.
After 30 years, Dr Silberberg will hand control of the organisation to HIA deputy managing director Shane Goodwin, who has been with the HIA for more than a decade.
Jo Stanley Sells Elwood House For $1.26 Million
RADIO personality Jo Stanley (pictured, right) has sold the Elwood home she outgrew for $1.26 million.
Stanley, with husband Darren McFarlane, purchased the renovated three-bedroom terrace about five years ago – about three years before the arrival of daughter Willow.
Near the beach and Elwood village, the semi-detached Edwardian has two living areas and a relatively large side yard.
Read moreCourt Overturns Frank Sartor’s Controversial Bayside Projects
THE New South Wales Land and Environmental Court has made void a development permit for the state’s biggest housing development, saying its approval was affected by “a reasonable apprehension of bias” by former ALP planning minister Frank Sartor.
Justice David Henry Lloyd overturned the approval of almost 800 homes in southern Lake Macquarie, because the planning minister at the time, the Labor Party’s Frank Sartor – “might not have been impartial and unprejudiced in his decision” about the project.
Read moreOff the plan sales in jeopardy: HIA
Off-the-plan sales could be at risk, and jobs could be lost, because of a Supreme Court decision that buyers can
Read more
Hume City Council Creates Comprehensive Sunbury Database
THE Hume City Council has created a comprehensive, free synopsis of major properties in Sunbury, about 30 kilometres north of town.
The Sunbury Town Centre Database tracks the history of the town since 1960, and as the government sold off land once used by the rail department.
Like popular industry resource CityScope, the Sunbury database gives investors, retailers and other potential businesses important information regarding everything from tenancy mixes, through to most recent property sales.
Read moreNSW Home Repossessions Down 30 Per Cent Since Last Year
NEW figures from the New South Wales Sheriff’s office show home repossessions in the state have fallen substantially since last year.
The office figures show between January and July 2009, home repossessions were 30 per cent lower than during the same period last year. In total 300 fewer homes were forcibly taken from their owners.
The one big difference to the economic backdrop, is interest rates which have successively and sharply fallen over the past twelve months to be at record lows.
Read more
Investa to sell Two CBD Offices Worth $600 Million
UNLISTED property giant Investa has put up for sale two more CBD office buildings for sale, one in each of Sydney and Melbourne.
In Sydney, the group will sell a 32-level office building at 312 – 322 Pitt Street. The 29,159 square metre, A-grade building includes 29 levels of offices, ground floor retail and a shared loading dock with a neighbouring building.
The Pitt Street building is expected to sell for about $200 million.
Read more
Billionaire Businessman Lloyd Williams Buys Adjoining South Yarra Development Sites
BILLIONAIRE businessman Lloyd Williams is continuing to reweight his property portfolio.
This time, in South Yarra, the racehorse owner, investor and high-density apartment builder has paid $13 million for two adjoining, historic homes (aerial pic, right) in the heart of the suburb’s uber-exclusive, low density Botanic Gardens precinct.
Williams is expected to bulldoze the homes on the combined 1632 square metre site – including a 1930s mansion – and replace it with something more efficient, presumably a multi-level apartment complex built atop an underground car park.
Read moreSydney’s Landmark Aurora Tower Expected to Fetch $700 Million
SYDNEY’s landmark Aurora Place office building has been listed for sale and is expected to sell for about $700 million.
The 41-level tower, built in 2001 on a former State Office Block at 88 Phillip Street, is owned by the Commonwealth Property Investment Trust, a Colonial First State wholesale fund. The largest tenants in the premium quality, 49,730 square metre building include the Royal Bank of Scotland, which also leases naming rights, and Minter Ellison.
The building was sold to CPIT by developers Lend Lease and its partner East Asia Property Group for $485 million in February 2001.
Read moreStockland Announces Changes to Residential Business
Stockland today announced changes to its Residential organisational structure and management team.
The business will be separated into two operating units: the Residential business comprising Residential Communities & Apartments, and Retirement Living which will become a stand alone business unit.
Read more
MAB Replaces Westgate Toll Collection Facility, Port Melbourne, with Expressway Business Park
GOVERNMENT human resource officers take note – another private development company is about to prove Treasury missed a chance to substantially boost its coffers.
MAB Corporation is slicing, dicing and readying to profit from a 3.1 hectare Port Melbourne facility it bought from the state government for a low $12.65 million six months ago (in a deal it didn’t have to pay stamp duty for).
The 12-62 Cook Street site was for years the toll collection facility for the West Gate Bridge. The easternmost boundary of the site offers 500 metres of exposure to an offramp of the West Gate Freeway, where 160,000 vehicles pass per day.
Read more
Developers Shave $1.35 Million From Price of Unsold New Birchgrove Apartment
THE developers of the luxury Louisa Road apartment project in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Birchgrove, have shaved $1.35 million from the asking price of a unit that failed to sell during construction.
SJB Architects, which has developed the 36 Louisa Road building with Queensland-based Sunland Property Group, has two apartments left to sell in the six-unit project, which offers residents westerly views over Cockatoo Island (pictured) toward Drummoyne.
Read moreING Office Fund to Raise $415 Million
ING Office Fund (“IOF”) today announced an equity raising of up to $415 million at an offer price of $0.45 per unit (the “Offer”) to strengthen and enhance its balance sheet.
Read more
Community Housing Leases 1000 Sq M Box Hill Office
INTERNATIONAL service provider Community Housing Limited – a specialist in securing local accommodation for residents living in overseas slums and other informal housing – has expanded into flash new Box Hill offices.
CHL has signed a major 1000 square metre lease at 26 – 28 Prospect Street (pictured, right), not far from another smaller building it occupied at 9-11 Prospect Street.
Both buildings are near the side-entrance of the Centro Box Hill shopping centre, which also includes a train station.
Read moreLend Lease wins $250m BER contract
Lend Lease has won a $250 million Building Education Revolution contract. Below is a published statement: Lend Lease Corporation Limited
Read more
$28 Billion Rudd Bank Rejected in Federal Parliament
THE AMBITIOUS $28 billion “Rudd Bank” – designed to protect the commercial property sector from the global financial crisis – was rejected in federal parliament this afternoon.
The Liberal party and the Greens voted down the fund, officially known as the Australian Business Investment Partnership, which was being lobbied by several property unions and bodies.
Read more
Pratt Family Offload Prominent Hawthorn Development Site
THE Pratt family’s investment vehicle, Thorney Holdings, has decided against redeveloping Hawthorn’s derelict California Hotel.
Run for 20 years by the Alex Waislitz, the son-in-law of the late Richard Pratt (pictured, right), the intensely private company purchased the 7799 square metre site at 138 Barkers Road (pictured, far right) in 2007.
In 2009, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal approved a proposal which would see the 82-room hotel demolished and replaced with a $42 million 87-unit residential apartment complex rising five levels.
Read morePlans to Build Massive Glasshouse in NSW Stall
PLANS to develop Australia’s biggest environmentally friendly “glasshouse” near Nowra on the New South Wales south coast have stalled, because of the recent bleak economic environment.
The glasshouse was expected to be twice the size of the Geelong-based Costa Group’s tomato growing complex on the NSW Northern Tablelands.
It would use excess carbon dioxide and waste water from a Manildra Group-owned ethanol plant nearby, to enhance growth of its products.
Read moreGPT Completes Entitlement Offer
The GPT Group (“GPT”) is pleased to confirm the allotment of 718,294,466 stapled securities under the Retail Entitlement Offer today.
The Retail Entitlement Offer Shortfall was approximately 210 million stapled securities (or approximately $73 million), comprising 4.7% of the offer as a whole. All Retail Securityholders who applied for Additional New Securities, up to a cap of 25% of their entitlement, received the Additional New Securities they applied for, raising a total of approximately $27 million. Trading of these new securities will commence on 17 June 2009. The Retail Entitlement Offer which comprises both the New Securities allotted today and those allotted on 27 May 2009 raised approximately $300 million. The total number of stapled securities on offer following completion of the equity raising will be 9,277,584,743.
Read more
Melbourne Planning Landscape Changed Forever Because of Melbourne 2030 Policy
TWO disused bowling alleys, north and south of the Yarra River, give an indication of how fast planning attitudes have reformed, as architects, developers and planners maximised the former government’s redundant Melbourne @ 5 Million planning strategy.
In Mentone, some 21 kilometres south of the CBD, council has just rejected plans to replace the Mentone Bowl site with a 170-unit residential village topped by two towers of eight and 12 levels.
Read moreFormer Coffs Harbour Zoo Sold For $3.5 Million
The former Coff’s Harbour Zoo has sold to a private Sydney family for $3.5 million.
The 125-hectare property includes 1.2 kilometres of beachfront reserve, and is spread over five titles.
Vendor Kazal Bros purchased the property for $2.4 million in late 2006.
Read more
Westpac, NAB Follow CBA and Lift Interest Rates
THREE DAYS after banking giant Commonwealth Bank announced a surprise increase of its fixed interest rate, rival banks Westpac and National Australia Bank have followed suit.
Westpac yesterday informed its mortgage holders of interest rate increases of between 0.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, for most of its loans. The bank’s four and five year loan rates have ballooned from 6.69 per cent to 7.19 per cent.
Westpac was followed by the National Australia Bank, which also lifted rates on its four and five year loans, by between 0.15 and 0.4 per cent.
Read more
Wesfarmers To Unveil New Concept Store, Urban at Target, in Melbourne
WESFARMERS owned Target will open the first of its “small format store” in Melbourne, in September.
The new store, Urban by Target, will occupy 1000 square metres of space once occupied by Virgin Megastore at the prominent Jam Factory in South Yarra, owned by Challenger.
Wesfarmers, which also owns supermarket giant Coles, is looking to expand both its Urban by Target and Target Country divisions. It’s also planning more large-format Target stores.
Read moreStarwood to Sell Sydney’s Sheraton on the Park Hotel
STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts is continuing to offload its major assets, this time putting Sydney’s five-star Sheraton on the Park hotel on the market.
Starwood will sell the asset a long-term management agreement for the 557-room Elizabeth Street hotel, which overlooks Hyde Park.
The group has put a number of its hotel investments globally on the market, but Starwood says it is not compelled to sell if pricing and other requirements are not met.
Read moreWorst May Be Over For Australia’s Residential Real Estate Markets
AUSTRALIA’s residential real estate markets are heading into a sustained recovery period, with average values expected to rise between 11 and 19 per cent in all major capitals, according to a new research report.
Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide will lead the property price rise charge, according to the report, with values expected to increase 19 per cent between 2009 and 2012.
Darwin – currently Australia’s second most expensive capital city with a median house price of $470,000, is expected to record the slowest growth, rising just 11 per cent over the same period.
Read more
Development Site Opposite South Melbourne Market Expected to Fetch About $20 Million
AN OWNER-occupier that controls a massive 4287 square metre property opposite the South Melbourne Market has publicly listed it for sale.
The Novak Prestige Motor Works site at the north-west corner of York and Cecil streets, in South Melbourne (aerial, right), is an amalgamation of several adjoining properties. Panel beater and painter Novak purchased the first site in 1965, acquiring another seven over a 45-year period.
Effectively a development site, and being offered with an extended settlement, the property is expected to arouse interest from builders, or land bankers which may onsell all or part of it at a more buoyant time of the market, possibly with permits.
Read more
$100 Million Darlinghurst Cancer Centre Objected by Lord Mayor
PLANS to build a $100 million cancer centre in Sydney’s ritzy inner-eastern suburb of Darlinghust are in jeopardy, after a group of local residents and Lord Mayor Clover Moore, said the development would “cannibalise” their suburb.
Mr Moore said the proposed 11-storey building – which was launched by singer Delta Goodrem last October – risks blocking sunlight to nearby homes, and will also cause traffic chaos.
Read more
GPT’s Rouse Hill Town Centre takes top PCA honour
Rouse Hill Town Centre has taken top honour at the 2009 Property Council of Australia Rider Levett Bucknall Awards for
Read more
Federal Government’s Beleagured NRAS Suffers Another Setback
THE federal government’s ailing National Rental Affordability Scheme has suffered a convenient setback.
The $623 million initiative – introduced by Kevin Rudd in 2008, and then part-cut by Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan in recent budgets – has lost another private sector backer which was to have provided 255 affordable housing units in Coburg.
Developer Hamton, with joint venture partner Macquarie Real Estate Investment Equity Fund, has quietly rescheduled the start date of its contentious Coburg High School redevelopment – Circa (artist impression, above).
Read more