Source : THE AGE NEWS
Capital Gain
An Oliver Hume property syndicate which bought a pub in the outer eastern suburb of Beaconsfield last month has also forked out $8 million on a Blackburn office building.
The two deals could be the sign of a new player emerging in Victoria’s pub market, and signals a potentially big shift for empty suburban office buildings.
The sale of the former MS Plus Victorian headquarters, a short walk from Blackburn railway station, settled last month, to Blackburn Tavern (Holdings).
The vacant two-storey 2470-square-metre building at 48 Railway Road is on a 3423 sq m site.
Records show the ultimate owner of Blackburn Tavern (Holdings) is Oliver Hume, a large diversified property company which has hitherto specialised in land development projects and research.
Unfortunately, there was no response to a request for comment about what’s next for the Blackburn office building and the pub-focused syndicate.
The syndicate also bought the Central Hotel in Beaconsfield last month, paying $8.5 million to Blueswan Australia, a pub operator run by the Deegan family.
Two weeks earlier, Blueswan had paid $8 million for 1 Old Princes Highway, a Gold Rush era pub in the outer eastern suburbs on a large 5759 sq m parcel of land.
It’s understood Blueswan has retained the leasehold and will run the hotel after on-selling the freehold to Oliver Hume’s syndicate.
Stonebridge agents Rorey James and Kevin Tong did the Beaconsfield deal while Julian White, Dylan Kilner and Chao Zhang got the Blackburn sale over the line.
Meanwhile, the Greensborough Hotel in the north-eastern suburbs has sold to the Signature Hospitality Group for $3.5 million.
The Francis family sold the pub at 75 Main Street after 35 years of ownership.
JLL’s Will Connolly and CRE Brokers’ Rohan Pertzel negotiated the transaction.
Laneway pad
The Pellicano family, which has developed large swaths of the outer suburbs into business estates, is selling a former workshop and factory on picturesque Guildford Lane in the CBD.
The historic four-storey property at 31 Guildford Lane is on a 129 sq m site and carries a price tag of $5.1 million.
The warehouse-lined alley, which runs parallel between La Trobe and Little Lonsdale streets, has been greened with vegetation in the past five years and is stacked with cafes and small shops.
Records show it last changed hands in 2021 when Pellicano City (owned by Antonio, Renato, Michele and Ferdinando Pellicano) paid $4.8 million in a mortgagee sale.
It had been used as a four-bedroom house with a rooftop terrace and a four-car garage but could be used as office space.
The Pellicanos have recently completed a new 20-storey tower at 17 Bennetts Lane and have decided to take office space in their sexy new digs.
Savills’ Tim Grant, Tom O’Halloran and Michael Lang have the listing.
Around the corner, a Sydney buyer has snapped up an office on level 4 at 377 Little Lonsdale Street for $1.65 million.
The 306 sq m office in the legal district had not changed hands since the early 1990s when it was bought for $430,000. Cushman & Wakefield’s Jack Cooper did the deal.
Also on the market through Savills is level 3 at 4-10 Bank Place, the historic lane which runs between Collins and Little Collins streets.
The five-storey building is an ideal spot: opposite the Mitre Tavern and above Treviso Restaurant.
The 280 sq m space is for sale at $2.5 million. Records show it last sold in 2015 for $1.32 million.
Car yard
The Courtney Patterson car yard on the edge of Heidelberg has finally sold, with local developer Marwood Property paying around $11 million.
The 7918-square metre site at 11 Yarra Street faces parkland and billabongs along the Yarra River and has frontage to Banksia and Dora streets.
While the riverside setting and Commercial 1 zoning might have initially attracted residential developers, a flood overlay cut its potential uses and price.
The site’s sale was being handled by its third lot of real estate agents, Savills’ Tim Grant and James Latos, who got a deal over the line.
It’s down the hill from the Austin and Mercy hospitals and close to the massive North East Link toll road project.
The new owner is understood to be planning a new commercial development for the site which will be well-placed when the toll road is finished.
Auction action
Five bidders dug deep for the auction of a restaurant at 156 Toorak Road, South Yarra, which sold under the hammer for $2.55 million.
The sale of the building, which is leased to the Wagyu Ya Chargrill Restaurant, reflected a sharp yield of 4.1 per cent.
Fitzroys’ agents Lewis Waddell and Ben Liu handled the auction for a family who had held the property for more than 50 years.
It’s near the corner of Osborne Street across the road from South Yarra railway station and the recently completed Claremont Hotel project.
“In this campaign we received particularly strong interest from local and overseas Asian investors,” Liu said.
Fast food
The newly built 7-Eleven and Red Rooster servo at 500-540 Torquay Road, Armstrong Creek has fetched $9.41 million, reflecting a yield of 5.49 per cent.
The transaction marks the sharpest yield achieved for a regional servo in the past 18 months and the highest price this year.
A local private investor snapped up the property, which is on a 3417 sq m site on the corner of the Surf Coast Highway.
It’s leased for an average 10.1 years and returns $516,838 a year in rent. Next door are McDonald’s and Hungry Jack outlets and a Woolies-anchored shopping centre.
JLL agents Romanor Falconer and Dominic McGrath with CBRE’s Jamie Perlinger and Matthew Wright ran the campaign.
Fast food is doing pretty well on its own. The Red Rooster at 231-233 Ferntree Gully Road, Mount Waverley has resold, after one year, for $6.47 million, reflecting a yield of around 5 per cent.
Eight offers were made for the fast food outlet, which was bought by a Brisbane investor attracted by the fresh 12-year lease period negotiated after the last transaction.
It changed hands in May last year for $5.25 million. Stonebridge’s Rorey James, Kevin Tong and Chao Zhang sold the property.
They also sold a rare investment: a vacant petrol station, which sold for $5.225 million in an off-market deal.
A local buyer has snapped it up with plans to re-lease the former Shell station at 246 Epping Road, which was originally developed by the Oreana Group.
The off-market campaign attracted four offers from a mix of operators and value-add buyers, but the vendor plumped for the unconditional offer from a buyer settling in 30 days, Tong said.
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