Source : THE AGE NEWS
Capital Gain
Developer Time & Place has doubled down in Northcote, buying a site down the road from its $500 million Northcote Plaza project.
Records show Time & Place has slapped a caveat over 217-223 Separation Street, a 1.78 hectare piece of land down the road.
The deal will be a welcome relief for Singaporean property giant Chip Eng Seng, which paid $26.3 million for the site between Victoria Road and Station Street in 2015.
The old NCI factory, from 217-239 Separation Street, Nothcote is between two parks.
It is understood the deal was done directly between vendor and buyer and their lips are sealed on the price.
Packaging manufacturer NCI Holdings had a factory/warehouse on the site and on an adjoining 9000 sq m block at No.235-239 which Canberra-based Bulum Group bought for $13.4 million. There are short-term leaseholders using the buildings on the huge site.
They were put up for sale together in 2023 with hopes of around $60 million, but despite plenty of interest from potential residential developers, industrial zoning for this part of Separation Street made it difficult to get the deal over the line.
However, that does not appear to be a problem for Time & Place who told Capital Gain, it was “expanding its growing portfolio with industrial assets becoming a key part of their balanced portfolio”.
The site sits between two parks – the vast McDonnell Park with ovals, courts and the revamped Northcote Pool and the Rubie Thomson park across the street.
Up the road, Time & Place won a permit at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in 2022 for a four tower 605-unit project on a 15,000 sq m site across the southern part of the Plaza on Separation Street.
The design by Fender Katsalidis includes 6500 sq m of new retail and an office building. It was supposed to be completed by the end of 2025 but the locals continue to enjoy shopping, unimpeded by development works, at the ageing early 1990s centre.
Time & Place’s Northcote Plaza redevelopment will include more than 600 apartments.
Pembroke’s printworks
US property giant Pembroke is steering its way into Australia’s build-to-rent market, buying a site in the heart of Fitzroy from its well-established rival, Greystar.
Records show Pembroke has paid $34.44 million for the old Streamline Print works, a 2600 square metre T-shaped site at 155 Johnston Street. It declined to comment on the price.
Greystar, the biggest BTR developer in the country, reportedly paid $32 million for the site in 2022, and will run the project on Pembroke’s behalf.
It is developing plans for a $200 million 11-storey building with 200 units, co-working facilities, a gym and a ground floor garden and courtyard.
The northern side of Johnston Street, between Brunswick and Smith streets, is busy with new apartments.
The move is part of Pembroke’s strategy to diversify its investments into a portfolio of office, residential and mixed-use projects in major cities around the world.
It already owns the T&G Building at 161 Collins Street, on the corner of Russell Street, and a tower in Sydney.
Henkell’s office
A much-storied office building on East Melbourne’s Victoria Parade is back on the market after 30 years in the hands of veteran investors, Henkell Brothers.
The Melbourne IVF fertility clinic is moving out of 344 Victoria Parade at the end of May to Hines’ new 15-storey timber building, T3, at 36 Wellington Street.
Henkell Brothers bought the 2444 sq m three-storey building from Pratt Industries in 1995, paying $3.92 million on a super-soft yield of 10.5 per cent.
344 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne
Led by the late Richard Pratt, Pratt Industries had paid $3.1 million in 1991 for the architect-designed building after it passed in at a mortgagee auction for $2.9 million. At the time, it was still a bargain because Melbourne property values had plummeted during the early 1990s recession.
The Victorian Public Service Association had been prepared to pay $7.12 million for the city-fringe office before the recession hit.
Heady times. It’s expected to fetch around $15 million this time with CBRE agents Nick Peden, Sandro Peluso, Jamus Campbell and Mark Granter.
Sold and settled
A part-finished 14-storey apartment building in downtown Dandenong has sold and settled.
Records show Promax Construction director and co-owner Ozan Girgin has paid $14.13 million for the property at 27 Scott Street, on the western edge of Dandenong’s CBD.
About $24 million had already been spent on the 107-unit building, including concrete columns up to level 13 and fire stairs to level 12.
27 Scott Street, Dandenong.
A receiver’s report indicated 27 Scott Street, the company undertaking the development, owed around $18 million to creditors.
Stonebridge agents Julian White, Andrew Milligan and Chao Zhang ran the sales campaign for Grant Thornton, who took charge of the building last October.
Pet vet
A brand-new animal hospital in Highett has sold for around $10 million to a private investor.
The new property, leased by Animal Emergency Centre, at 252 Whickham Road, is next door to the old hospital which AEC has operated for 40 years.
252 Wickham Road, Highett.Credit: Highett
The joint venture project, undertaken with Unified Property Services and Tom Shelton’s Bridport Property, includes multiple day theatres, x-ray rooms and CT scanning capabilities.
AEC is owned by the Greencross Pet Wellness Company, one of the country’s biggest vets, with 260 clinics and 24 hospitals.
The 1302 sq m property draws a passing income of $55,350 a year on a 10-year lease with two five-year options. The deal reflected a yield of around 5.5 per cent and was negotiated by CBRE’s Sandro Peluso, Marcello Caspani-Muto and Jimmy Tat.
Regional deals
City investors are heading to regional areas and the city fringe for stronger returns on retail assets.
A Reject Shop at 61-63 High Street, Maryborough sold under the hammer for $2.6 million on a 6.4 per cent yield.
Fitzroys agents Chris Kombi, Lewis Waddell and Ben Liu, with Stonebridge’s Nic Hage, Rorey James and Ian Lam handled the auction, under instruction from Mark Wizel’s Advise Transact.
Reject Shop at 61-63 High Street, Maryborough.
The buyer was a Melbourne-based superannuation fund. The ASX-listed retailer was sold during the campaign to Canadian retail giant Dollarama in a deal worth $259 million.
Meanwhile, in Pakenham, a Gusman Y Gomez outlet at 74 Princes Highway fetched $4.34 million to record a tight yield of 4.79 per cent.
The strata-titled drive-through fast food joint was developed in 2022 and had seven years remaining on its lease.
That auction was run by CBRE’s Scott Hawthorne, Nathan Mufale and J.J.Heng, who also sold an empty former Hungry Jack’s drive-through outlet at 85 High Street in the Geelong suburb of Belmont.
The incoming purchaser is planning to lease the property to a new tenant in the fast food sector.
The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.
