St Kilda’s Greyhound Hotel site reaps $6.25 million for Steller receiver
The St Kilda site which until 2017 accommodated the 164-year Greyhound Hotel sold to a developer for $6.25 million on Friday.
It was offered by receiver KordaMentha, seeking to recover debts from the owner, Steller, which was put into receivership in July.
Steller paid $7.5 million for the cleared St Kilda site at 1 Brighton Road in mid-2017.
It unsuccessfully tried to sell the parcel last year: in that marketing campaign, the 911 sqm block was asking $8 million.
The property was offered (as Steller acquired it) with a permit for a seven-storey apartment complex with 37 flats and ground floor shops (see artist’s impression, below).
CBRE’s Julian White, Mark Wizel, David Minty and Chao Zhang were the marketing agents.
Planning technicality meant private building surveyors had the power to demolish the historic pub
The former Greyhound Hotel was built in 1953, but because of an art deco renovation in 1938, was not deemed worthy of heritage protection as it wasn’t true to its original design.
At the time the St Kilda hotel was being demolished, another historic pub – the London Hotel, on Port Melbourne’s waterfront, was razed to make way for a high-density apartment redevelopment.
It was speculated that another site, the Laird Hotel in Abbotsford, could also sell to a builder (instead it was acquired by an investor).
Last year, the 1920s Duke of Kent Hotel in the city sold to a developer after it was approved to replaced with an apartment building.
In Collingwood, the Leicester Arms was offered with vacant possession to builders, as well as investors and owner occupiers.
After failing to sell last year, this pub at 66 Gold Street was relisted for sale this month – again as a development play.
Steller state of play
It was in April we reported, exclusively, that Steller projects across the state were on ice as it faced finance woes.
At present, sites, including in Carnegie, Cheltenham, Richmond, Rosebud, South Melbourne, are for public sale by various receivers.
Several former Steller controlled properties have traded – including a small block of land earmarked for an office in the St Kilda East pocket of Balaclava and the former Frankston church site earmarked to make way for that suburb’s tallest building.
Two properties in Highett – including a 1.2 hectare site permit-ready for an aged care complex and a double storey office – also found new buyers in recent months.
Following a public sales campaign, restaurateur Julian Gerner last month seized full control of Sorrento’s high-profile Continental Hotel site in October – ending a joint venture development agreement he signed with Steller in late 2017.
Details about the $100 million redevelopment Mr Gerner now has planned for that site are explained in our story, here, or podcast, here.
Also on the Mornington Peninsula, a 22.3 hectare Rosebud farm formerly controlled by Steller sold in October.
