Source : THE AGE NEWS
Capital Gain
The super fund owner of blue-chip tower 101 Collins Street is selling one of its rear neighbours on Flinders Lane after making sure there are ironclad restrictions on the height of any future development on the property.
The Commonwealth Superannuation Fund – which manages the superannuation of federal public servants and defence personnel – is a strategic buyer of its neighbours in the CBD’s east end where sales are relatively rare.
Any future development of 107-109 Flinders Lane will be less than car park next door.Credit:
In March, it paid $45 million for 63 Exhibition Street where developer, Salta, had been planning to build a 52-storey tower and originally wanted $80 million. Bargain!
Now the fund is offloading the six-storey building at its rear, on the corner of AC/DC Lane, which it bought in 2015 for $15 million.
The building had been earmarked for a skinny 43-storey tower which would have obliterated views from 101, home to the likes of financiers JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Wingate and law firm Allens, among many others.
Since then, CSC has ensured any development on the building is capped. It’s understood the new height limit is less than the next door’s carpark.
The super fund has a long history of using its deep pockets to acquire neighbours and control development heights – and the prime views – near its premium 101 tower. In 1996, CSC bought Rosati on Flinders Lane (now the Garden State Hotel) for $5.5 million and sold it six years later for $4.3 million, with height restrictions.
More recently it bought several levels of 55 Exhibition Street; paid $27.52 million for 45 Exhibition Street and bought a level of 121 Flinders Lane for $4.1 million.
The listing has gone to one of 101’s tenants, commercial agency JLL, and its agents, Josh Rutman, Piper Dedrick, Nick MacFie and Xander Yeo, are handling the sale. CSC’s building manager GPT declined to comment on a price but current values suggest it is likely to be around $20 million.
Bourke’s back
It’s not the only city property in play. Now the election is over and interest rates are down, a clutch of freehold CBD properties are on the market, some of them for around their last sale price.
At 418-420 Bourke Street, a four-storey building which houses a Peter Jackson outlet on the ground floor is back on the market.
The four-storey building at 418-420 Bourke Street is back on the market.Credit: Handout image
It last traded in 2019 for $5.84 million on a skinny 2.81 per cent yield. The 417 square metre building is on a 168 sq m site with rear access to Kirks Lane.
Opposite Cbus Property’s $1 billion tower at 435 Bourke Street, it comes with a permit to convert the upper levels to three whole floor apartments.
Teska Carson agents Matthew Feld and Stephen Speck will take the property to auction on June 27 and are quoting $5 million-plus.
Around the corner, a five-storey building at 105 Elizabeth Street has returned swiftly to market which after fetching $7.55 million in an off-market deal in 2024.
It goes to auction on July 3. Cushman & Wakefield’s Daniel Wolman, Anthony Kirwan and George Davies are quoting around $7 million for the property.
A handout image of 105 Elizabeth Street in Melbourne.Credit:
Levels one to four are vacant, while the ground floor shop is leased to Coleman’s Music. “There’s not many left of these buildings which are empty upstairs,” Kirwan said. “There’s so much potential.”
At the eastern end of Bourke Street, a shop and basement at the base of the Quest Hotel at No.151 is for sale for the first time since the hotel was built.
The properties were bought in 2000 by the Lesh family who own the Siricco leather goods business. They paid $1.2 million for the 185 sq m shop and $350,000 for the 364 sq m basement.
Twenty-five years later, the basement is expected to fetch around $1.2 million and the shop about $3.3 million.
The shop and basement of 151 Bourke Street, pictured in this handout image, is for sale.Credit:
Fitzroys agents Chris Kombi, Lewis Waddell and Ben Liu are running the expressions of interest campaign.
Retail arcade
The North Balwyn Village Arcade, where some tenants have been in place for decades, is up for sale with expectations of more than $8 million.
The Village Arcade in this handout image is at 70 Doncaster Road, Balwyn North.Credit:
The 1365 sq m two-storey building at 70 Doncaster Road is on an 888 sq m site close to the intersection of Doncaster and Bulleen roads. It was built by the vendors in 1975 and its upper floor was a popular Blue Light Disco for teenagers in the 1980s.
Upstairs at the Village Arcade in its heyday!Credit: Fiona McDougall
Colliers’ Tim McIntosh, Alex Browne, James Zhuang and Lucas Soccio have the listing.
Meanwhile, leasing deals are also getting done. A Port Douglas-based shop, Tzusk, has leased 131 Toorak Road and will rebrand the boutique as Aniseed Melbourne.
The shop is expected to open in mid-2025. Jones Real Estate’s Luke Peric did the deal. “Toorak Road has seen one of the most significant improvements in vacancy rates across Melbourne. It’s now sitting at just 4.6 per cent, well below the 20-year average,” Peric said.
Fast food
There’s no shortage of punters keen on fast food, whether it’s consuming, investing or redeveloping.
A KFC in Waurn Ponds, near the Geelong Ring Road, sold on a super tight 3.5 per cent yield – equating to about $3.1 million – at Stonebridge’s portfolio auction last week.
The new centre, at 1 Enterprise Way has a new 10-year lease to the Hosking Group. It’s on a 1485 sq m site and returns $110,500 a year. Stonebridge’s Rorey James and Kevin Tong handled the transaction.
Coming up is a fast food magnet in St Albans which includes the first McDonald’s to hit the market in years.
The first McDonald’s on the market for years at 53 Sunshine Avenue, St Albans.Credit: Handout image
The new centre at 53 Sunshine Avenue, close to the Ring Road’s on and off ramps, was developed by Sydney-based Vernacular Property, which is headed up by ex-Abacus development manager Jaryd Misios.
The Maccas is on a 2955 sq m site with a 20-year ground lease plus options. It returns $175,000 a year in rent and is expected to sell for around $5 million.
Also up for sale, separately, are its neighbours, cult chicken joint El Jannah and Starbucks. The El Jannah has a 20-year lease with two 15-year options and pays $371,000 in rent. It’s expected to fetch around $6.4 million. The Starbucks’ 12-year lease returns $251,000 in rent. Its likely sale price is $5 million-ish.
Burgess Rawson agents Jamie Perlinger, Beau Coulter, Matthew Wright, Yosh Mendis and Zomart He are handling enquiries. The properties will be sold individually at the next portfolio auction on June 25.
A drive-through KFC in Ringwood is also for sale but its lease expires in 2027 and has no options.
The outlet at 387 Maroondah Highway is on 3991 sq m of Commercial 2 zoned land just east of Eastland. The KFC franchisee pays $168,669 a year. JLL’s Dominic McGrath, Tom Noonan, and Xander Yeo have the listing and are expecting around $8 million.
So far, interest has come from a range of groups and owner occupiers looking to adapt the site for new uses.
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