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The value of freestanding properties in the city has jumped by 33 per cent so far this year, with land values increasing 28 per cent.
Research by JLL shows 16 buildings in the $5 million-plus range have changed hands in 2022. Average office building rates are running at $12,311 a square metre, and shops at $18,697 a sq m.
27 Windsor Place, one of few remaining houses left standing in the city.
Average land values stand at $51,233 a sq m.
In the most recent deal, the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust more than doubled its money in 11 years, selling its 287 sq m CBD office for $5.26 million.
An owner-occupier is understood to have beaten six others for 27 Windsor Place, one of few remaining houses left standing in the city. The 127-year-old building on a 123 sq m site is located behind the Windsor Hotel in the city’s prestigious east-end.
The sale reflects a building rate of more than $18,345 a sq m – the strongest pure office deal for the year, according to JLL agents Nick Peden, Josh Rutman and MingXuan Li, who handled the sale.
‘The depth of interest is pushing prices up throughout the CBD.’
“Despite the increase in interest rates and inflated CBD office vacancy, we have witnessed a 33 per cent increase in building value rates and a 28 per cent increase in land value rates, showing the depth of interest pushing prices up throughout the CBD,” Peden said.
Kokoda Property is offloading the Woolworths Metro supermarket it is building at the base of its new Malvern Collective project.
The imposing 265-apartment building is being constructed behind the Angel Tavern next to Malvern railway station.
Kokoda bought the 4720 sq m site on the intersection of Dandenong and Glenferrie roads from Mark Rowsthorn in 2017 for $41 million.
The project and 632 sq m supermarket is still some distance away from being finished, with 2024 the expected completion date.
Kokoda originally appointed ABD Group to build the project in 2020 but dropped the builder shortly before its collapse in November 2021. Crema Group took over in February.
Kokoda boss Mark Stevens said while construction prices kept rising during that time, there was also an appreciation in the value of the apartments. “That has meant we’ve been able to offset the costs,” Stevens said.
There are eight other shops in the project’s retail precinct, and they will also go on the market when they are leased. However, the Angel Tavern will remain in Kokoda’s hands after its restoration.
Stonebridge Property Group’s Rorey James and Kevin Tong are running an expression of interest campaign for the supermarket. It comes with a new seven-year lease and rent of about $240,000 a year.
James said other costs would not be determined until closer to the opening, but it should sell on a yield of about 4.5 per cent. That puts a likely price tag of between $4 million to $5 million on the property.
The $20 million penthouses are the next element of the project getting ready for market, Stevens said. That will certainly be a test of the empty nester market.
The Woolworths Metro supermarket will be built at the base of the new Malvern Collective project.
Advertising firm M&C Saatchi Melbourne is leaving its digs opposite the Spotlight building at 129-133 York Street and heading for Cremorne.
The 1391 sq m two-storey building, just 50 metres down the road from South Melbourne market, is expected to fetch more than $12 million.
Records show the vendors, Eva and Daniel Presser, who bought the Rosella Group in 2013, snapped up the office in 2010 for $5.2 million.
Lemon Baxter agents Chris Curtain, Bill Makris and Paul O’Sullivan have the listing.
Analysis by Hayball Architects suggests the 866 sq m site could bear a seven-level building, or higher.
The building is not far from a large 2563 sq m site at 182-200 Clarendon Street which Lemon Baxter sold to Lowe Group during the year for more than $35 million.
Records show the vendor – two-time movie producer Martin Zoland – had settled on part of the offering, the Just Tools building at No.182-192, on July 1 for $8 million. It was flipped less than a week later, with Lowe lodging a caveat on the site.
Meanwhile, M&C Saatchi have shifted into about 900 sq m of new space at Salta’s 459 Church Street in a leasing deal struck by Colliers’ Travis Myerscough.
Sydney property developer Sam Ballas is flipping the Bunnings and Australia Post building in Brunswick.
The 3700 sq m site at 409-419 Sydney Road sold quickly in 2020. At the time, Bunnings was planning a big store on Glenlyon Road, but locals objected, and the proposed new outlet was quashed at VCAT.
Records show the purchase settled in March 2022, with Ballas paying $13.82 million to a syndicate of northern suburbs investors. It was a well-timed sale for the vendors because the latest quote looks a lot like the old price – $13 million-plus.
Melbourne Acquisitions agent James Latos and Dom Gibson, who are selling it again, said it is one of only three sites on the strip larger than 3500 sq m not in planning or under construction.
The frontage to Sydney Road includes five double-storey Victorian terrace facades. The rear includes a modern warehouse. Tenants pay about $415,000 a year in rent for the site, which has 58 car parks at the rear.
Bunnings’ 10-year lease runs until 2025, plus it has two five-year options. Australia Post’s five-year lease runs out this month and negotiations are ongoing.
The Brunswick Bunnings on Sydney Road.
A Ferntree Gully building designed and developed by Italian architect Rinaldo Fabbro is up for auction.
Fabbro arrived in this country after fighting as a partisan in World War 2 and went on to pioneer the use of pre-cast concrete in Australian buildings and homes.
His son, vendor John Fabbro, said: “The company he founded, Fabbrostone, went on to be involved in the production of precast panels used on a majority of trophy CBD office buildings developed in capital cities during the 1960s through to the 1980s”.
Fabbrostone, established in 1964, was later acquired by Boral.
The 1054 sq m Mazda service centre at 1020 Burwood Highway is on a 2214 sq m site. It is expected to sell for more than $3 million when it goes on the block as part of Burgess Rawson’s portfolio auction on December 7.
The 1054 sq m Mazda service centre at 1020 Burwood Highway.
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