Commercial and residential property news
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.
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.
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 moreDevelopers of strata office suites have been given something to smile about, with two of the biggest developments under construction in the CBD and suburbs selling out during construction.
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.
Read moreA suburb from each of the city, coast and country was represented in the list of Victorian suburbs, to record the strongest growth in property values last year.
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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.
Read morePrestigious 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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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.
Selling agents are still tight lipped about which white knight has saved one of South Yarra’s most significant homes from falling into private hands.
Read moreTHE 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.
Valad Property Group is understood to be close to buying a portfolio of properties owned by one of Australia’s largest syndicators, Australian Unity, in a deal worth more than $40 million.
Read moreFOUR 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.
Developer Morry Schwartz is understood to have paid $5 million for a small CBD office building, he plans to turn into a residential apartment tower.
Read moreASCOT 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.
Findings from a Macquarie Direct Property financial adviser survey released this week, show commercial property in Europe will present the best growth opportunity for property investors in 2007.
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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.
Read moreA relatively small lease deal to Japanese trading company Mitsui, may have just filled Investa’s 120 Collins Street office building.
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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.
A private investor has paid a low “Melbourne-like yield” for a 3,000 square metre Coles supermarket in the regional town of Bendigo.
Read moreMAB 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.
Becton Property Group is continuing its push into the lucrative aged care market, picking up a Caulfield North development site for more than twice the price the vendor paid for it last year.
Read moreA 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.
Former Melbourne Football Club champion Andrew Leoncelli has joined boutique property developer Hamton, as a development manager.
Read moreCOLLINS 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.
Olympian and Victorian parliamentarian Kirstie Marshall has snapped up a 470 square metre block of land near the Mount Hotham ski slopes.
Read moreMELBOURNE 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 moreSteve Vizard is expected to vacate the Toorak home he recently sold off-market by Christmas. The Good Guys boss Andrew
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.
Read moreComedian Peter Helliar has sold his Montmorency property two weeks before a scheduled auction.
The 3-bedroom plus study home, sits on a sizeable block of land on the outskirts of Montmorency, near the Eltham border in Melbourne’s north-east.
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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.
DISCOUNT store shopping mecca Bridge Road has topped a new retail survey, recording the lowest vacancy rate of eleven suburban shopping strips.
Read moreSYDNEY-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.
Shopping centre owners aren’t acting fast enough to reduce the environmental impact of their properties, because there is no financial incentive for them to do so.
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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.
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.
Melbourne-based agencies won three of five national awards, at last week’s DB RREEF Excellence in Agency Awards, held in Sydney last week.
Read moreIT’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.
Melbourne based developer Pace Developments is tipped to be the mystery buyer of a prime retail development site in Mordialloc’s main shopping strip, in a deal worth $5.73 million.
Read moreTHE 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.
Less than a week after winning a $150 million contract to operate Victoria’s controversial traffic camera system, British-based Serco is in the market for more office space, and quickly.
Read moreTHE 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.
Plans for a boutique apartment building in the city’s north-eastern tip may be resurrected, after a developer paid almost three times the reserve price for a site, adjoining another it had slated for an 11-storey residential building.
Read moreFUND 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.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Yarra River, Herald and Weekly Times has formally come to the market with an 18,000 square metre office leasing requirement – the third biggest in Melbourne at the moment.
Read moreDEVELOPER 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.
Budding Melbourne-based call centre operator SalesForce is understood to have leased the former Qantas office building at 50 Franklin Street, in an off-market deal negotiated between the building owner and tenant.
Read moreAN 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.
The sprawling Kangaroo Ground property Richmond Football Club coach Terry Wallace built for his family in 1993, is on the market.
Read moreMURRUMBEENA’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.
Triple Olympic medalist, and father to be, Matt Welsh sold his Port Melbourne terrace home after auction last week for $1.1 million.
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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.
Read moreGood Guys boss Andrew Muir has put his East Melbourne mansion on the market, in a deal expected to set a new record for the bourgeoisies suburb.
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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 moreHenkell Brothers Investment Management is selling a c$180 million portfolio comprising seven office and retail assets. The properties are managed
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 moreBoutique architect and developer Stonehenge has sold two neighbouring office buildings in Clarke Street South Melbourne for $7.55 million.
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 moreAfter announcing it would wind down its local manufacturing base, sleepwear and leisurewear clothes manufacturer Givoni is selling its Sandringham headquarters.
Read moreMirvac Group today announced a $256 million bid to buy shares in the Mirvac Real Estate Investment Trust which it
Read moreAnother crane will appear in Geelong’s skyline later this year, after the Geelong Private Hospital pre-committed to a new $35 million medical centre on Argyle Street.
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EVOLVE 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.
Receivers for failed property finance company Westwater Property have put the company’s last two development sites on the market, in deals expected to recover more than $10 million.
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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.
Sure to whet the appetite of stock starved investors, The Foundry development on Bourke Street is expected to be put to the market this week, in a deal which could reap vendor Donnelly Group around $140 million.
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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.
With the spring selling season just around the corner, heres a good tip for buyers.
Using a little trick many valuers, analysts and banks use you can calculate an approximate sale price of a house, by working backwards according to how much rent it can return.
Read moreRESIDENTS 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.
Formula 5000 racer Jon Davison is selling a Kew Federation ahead of a move to town. The son of four-time
Read moreVICURBAN 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.
Sacked Coles executive Peter Scott won’t have any trouble paying his upcoming legal bills, after offloading his historic Brighton pad for $5.4 million.
Read moreMELBOURNE’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.”
Prestigious private boys college Ivanhoe Grammar is understood to be the mystery buyer of a 1600 square metre retail showroom and development site, across the road from its Ridgeway campus in Ivanhoe.
Read moreSIX 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.
An owner occupier has paid $1.925 million for a ground floor office suite, with three street frontages, in one of the CBD’s most popular dining precincts. The sale price reflects a market yield of 3.53 per cent.
Read moreCITY drinking and dining institution Campari, in Hardware Lane, has sold to a Dubai-based investor for about $5 million. The fully
Read moreMiddle Park drinking institution the Gunn Island Hotel failed to sell at a scheduled auction on Thursday, but sold to
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.
Webb Group could create itself a super-sized development site in Melbourne’s inner north Brunswick A portfolio of industrial properties on
Read moreHAWTHORN’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 Australian Red Cross is the latest tenant to flag Docklands as a future office location, after quietly issuing a large office requirement to developers and agents this week.
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