Private school buys ‘Underbelly’ mansion
EXCLUSIVE
A 14 room mansion on 1455 square metres in Moonee Ponds’ exclusive Ardmillan Road has sold to private school Penleigh & Essendon Grammar to expand the Junior Girl’s campus.
The Italianate Rosina, developed c1899 at #40, set it back $7.1 million.
With five bedrooms, a ballroom, three bathrooms and a gym built into a tower, the home failed to sell in public campaigns two years ago – with an upper guide of $7.5m – and in 2023, when it was seeking $7-7.7m.
In 2008, the dwelling featured in Nine Network TV show Underbelly.
PEGS has two junior campuses – at Moonee Ponds and Essendon, near the Windy Hill oval.
The main school, with middle and senior grades, is some distance away – at the Airport West/Keilor East/Keilor Park border, abutting the Calder Freeway.
Another western suburb private school, Westbourne Grammar, adopts a similar campus model – with a spectacularly located school for Preps-grade 4, on the waterfront at The Strand, Newport,
Students then move to a large college at Truganina, about 15 kilometres away (continues below).
PEGS extends Moonee Ponds footprint
The PEGS Junior Girl’s campus incorporates historic dwellings at 42 and 44 Ardmillan Rd.
The school is also speculated to be buying a Park St dwelling beside the campus’ car park.
The Rosina deal comes nearly five years since the college outlaid $4.4m for an office abutting the Essendon campus – part of the Napier Street retail strip.
Also in 2021, PEGS paid $14m for a Keilor Park office/warehouse abutting sports grounds built on a 24 hectare industrial site beneath a Melbourne Airport flight path acquired from MAB Corporation in 2005 for $13m.
Nelson Alexander’s David Vaughan and Jason Barbara marketed Rosina which also featured in ABC’s Superwog, or Superbro outside of Australia, in 2023.
The deal comes a month since we reported another private school, Preshill, bought a 1920s ex-piano factory in Carlton, also to occupy.
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