Planning Minister Approves $800 Million-Plus Redevelopment of Ex-Age Site, Melbourne

IT USED to be considered the dankest end of the Melbourne CBD – but now two former industrial sites opposite the Southern Cross train station are to make way for some ten swank skyscrapers accommodating some 5500 apartments.

Yesterday Victorian planning minister Matthew Guy approved an $800 million redevelopment of the former Age newspaper site at 250 Spencer Street.

The proposal – seen in ISPT’s 2012 annual report – seeks to add six skyscrapers and 2994 flats to the block which for years houses The Age newspaper.

Read more

Prominent Melbourne CBD Corner Sells For $10.75 Million

A LOCAL private investor has paid $10.75 million for a historic property at the south-west tip of the CBD.

The former Sir Charles Hotham Hotel (pictured, right), later rebranded the Hotham Private Hotel, and now the All Nations Backpackers, occupies sites at 2-8 Spencer Street and 566-580 Flinders Street, near the Yarra River.

On an 833-square-metre site, the property has been offered for sale at various stages over the years, but a lease expiring in 2018 is believed to have deterred residential developers.

Read more

Prominent Bourke Street Building Expected to Fetch $17 Million

Bradmans Handbag BuildingA WEEK after music promoter Michael Coppel reaped $15 million from the sale of an under-utilised commercial building at a prominent CBD intersection opposite the State Library of Victoria – and even higher profile “corner site” has hit the market.

The distinctive 1960s Bradman’s Handbags and Travel Goods building, at the north-west corner of Bourke and Swanston streets is expected to sell for about $17 million.

On land of 134 square metres, the four-level building, which is part of the Bourke Street Mall, cannot be demolished, but can be reconfigured, and possibly extended, by a new buyer, sources say.

Read more