Toorak investors bank in excess of $25 million selling Melbourne CBD office held for five decades
EXCLUSIVE
A small six-storey office at the east-end of the Melbourne CBD is selling for a price speculated to be well in excess of $25 million.
The vendor of 45 Exhibition Street, Normadel Investments, a private company controlled by Toorak-based Henryk and Emily Kranz, paid $78,000 for the property in 1968.
Near the north-west corner of Flinders Lane, in the shadow of the landmark 101 Collins Street skyscraper, 45 Exhibition Street is next door to the peculiar 41X, a strata-office which the Australian Institute of Architects completed in 2014.
It is across the road from Collins Place and adjacent to 8 Exhibition Street – the local headquarters of global consultancy, EY.
The Parliament train station is a block away.
Marketed by Colliers International as “an intergenerational freehold” having “endless upside”, 45 Exhibition Street contains 1567 square metres of lettable area and two off-street car parks.
It occupies a 344 sqm block zoned Commercial 1, which agents Daniel Wolman, Oliver Hay, Matt Stagg and David Sia said could make way for a hotel, office or apartment tower.
The brokers declined to comment about the 45 Exhibition Street campaign after a sold sticker was peeled onto the marketing board over the weekend.
The property was listed in February with a price guide of just over $20 million. The final result is understood to have substantially exceeded that expectation, sources say.
In 2017, Salta Properties and Asia One received a planning permit to replace an 849 sqm site at nearby 63 Exhibition Street with a 59-storey tower containing 119 apartments and 185 hotel rooms.
The sale of 45 Exhibition Street comes less than a month after 86-year old Sydney developer Harry Triguboff paid Besgate $29 million for 140 King Street – a low-rise building on a 792 sqm site, permit-ready to make way for a 57-storey hotel.
This purchase was Mr Triguboff’s first in Melbourne after more than 50 years in the development game.
In November, luxury retailer Rolex paid the Liberal Party of Australia’s Victorian division $37.1 million for the historic Centenary Hall at 104 Exhibition Street – on a 444 sqm plot with limited redevelopment prospects.
Both 140 King Street and 104 Exhibition Street were also marketed by Colliers International.
Earlier this month the agency co-listed 130 Little Collins Street for the Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania.
On a 651 sqm parcel, the brown-brick eight storey office is expected to sell for more than $35 million. It is being offered with a permit to be replaced with a 27-storey hotel.
The Uniting Church acquired 130 Little Collins Street in 1968 – the same year Normadel Investments picked up 45 Exhibition Street.
