St Kilda Road office expected to sell for $160 million – a record price for the precinct
An office on Melbourne’s fringe has hit the market with price expectations of $160 million – almost double the $84 million outlay the vendor made in 2014.
The home of Fair Work Australia at 509 St Kilda Road (pictured top, left and bottom) would set a precinct record if it achieved that price – eclipsing a watermark set last year when 417 St Kilda Road traded for $144.4 million.
Sydney-based investment house, developer and shopping centre owner, Beville Group, headed by John Beville, is the vendor.
On a 6070 square metre block – “the joint largest site area of any commercial office in the St Kilda Road precinct”, according to the marketing agents – 509 St Kilda Road has enormous long-term redevelopment potential.
It is currently configured with a seven-level, 19,645 square metre A-grade office with 325 car parks. Fully leased, to tenants also including Fuji Xerox, Webjet and AIA Australia, it returns annual rent of just over $8.1 million.
The building has a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 4.5 years.
Backing onto Fawkner Park, 509 St Kilda Road offers views capturing the city and Port Phillip Bay. It is near the corner of Commercial Road, which is the suburb border to South Yarra and Prahran.
Elsewhere in the strip recently, Abacus Property Group and Wing Tai Holdings paid $95.4 million for VACC House at #464. Also, the Tong Eng Group paid the Myer family $77 million for 312 St Kilda Road.
In 2016, businessman Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments paid $55 million for a vacant eight-storey office at 457 St Kilda Road which, like 509 St Kilda Road, backs onto Fawkner Park.
CBRE’s Kiran Pillai, Josh Rutman, Mark Wizel, Luke Etherington and Lewis Tong are marketing 509 St Kilda Road.