Ageing equations stretch developers

The 774 sq m holding at 1-17 Adams Street came with a permit for a four level Rob Mills-designed project with only seven apartments and cost $8 million.

Records show the vendor, salary packaging mogul Anton Gaudry, paid $7.1 million for the site in 2017 through a company called Wiin Design.

Lion Property Group principals lodged a caveat over the property on May 1.

Stonebridge Property Group’s Julian White and Chao Zhang handled the sale, which reflected a land rate of $10,335 a sq m and a potential unit rate of more than $1.1 million.

“We are witnessing a shift in the market at present, where developers are starting to take a more aggressive view on where the residential market will be in the next six, 12 and 18 months,” White said.

Meanwhile, in South Yarra’s eastern reaches near the river, a group of investors paid just over $9 million for a block of 1960s-era flats at 39 Rockley Road which had been held for more than 45 years.

CVA agents Ian Angelico and Daniel Philip received nine offers for the block of 13 flats, but took a circuitous route to the final sale.

Angelico approached Advantage Property Group’s Frank Valentic who provided a pool of potential investors keen to buy individual flats.

The flats are on a 988 sq m block of land and sold at a land rate of $9111 a sq m. The sale price reflected a 4.31 percent yield.

Strata sales

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Level seven of Mering House at 278 Collins Street, has sold to an owner-occupier for around $3 million. The price repeats the last deal in the building – level eight – which was offloaded by the Jason Yeap-controlled Unicol in December 2022.

The 338 sq m level seven was sold vacant by Tiga Commercial agents Martin Leong, Griffin Barrett and David Sia.

The buyer was introduced by Cushman & Wakefield’s Anthony Kirwan who sold level eight last year.

Records show the vendor, DC Capital Investment paid Unicol $2.88 million for the office in 2018.

Unicol bought the whole 11-storey modernist tower for $4.77 about 25 years ago and has sold down all but the top two floors and the basement, mezzanine and ground retail space.

Next in the strata pipeline is half of level eight at 140 Bourke Street in the former Hoyts cinema centre, which Michael Drapac converted into offices in 2014.

Kirwan, with George Davies and Jeff Ha, have the listing. Suite 803 is 196 sq m and suite 804 is 124 sq m. They are offered individually or together.

The most recent deal in the building was Burgess Rawson’s head office on level seven which sold for $6.6 million in April 2022.

The Tiga team is also selling half a floor on level three at 620 Bourke Street. The 250 sq m office in the western core is leased to an education operator and is expected to fetch more than $2.1 million.

Olympic pool

The extraordinary swimming pool built on the Yarra River for the 1956 Olympic Games recently underwent a tune-up. Now known as the rather bland AIA Centre, the former Olympic pool houses the Collingwood and Football and Netball Clubs. It is undergoing a $15 million revamp to become part of a Monash Uni-affiliated medical and sports performance hub.

The heritage-listed building, with its distinctive butterfly wings, was designed by local architects Peter McIntyre, Kevin Borland and John and Phyllis Murphy in 1953.

The 26 vertical tie-down rods which provide stability for the building’s steel superstructure were tightened over a three-week period last month by engineering firm WSP.

WSP director Phil Gardiner said adjustment of the tie-down rods must be undertaken periodically.

“Over time, due to weather, ground movement and surrounding infrastructure changes, the springs and rods lose their tension. They also get dirty, rusty and start to corrode,” Gardiner said.

Metro tunnel

After five years of construction, it seems like the $12.58 billion Metro Tunnel project could go on forever, but there is light at the proverbial – and literal – end of the tunnel.

An expression of interest campaign to lease the 37 anchor retail spaces at the five new underground railway stations is about to get under way.

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The move will fix the commuter’s fast food and coffee options for the next five to 10 years.

Colliers agents Adam Lester, Tom Larwill and Stacey Gaff are acting for Cross Yarra Partnership, a consortium made up of Capella Capital, Lendlease, John Holland, John Laing, and Bouygues Construction.

A total 3900 sq m of space is on offer at the new stations: Arden in North Melbourne; Parkville in the medical and education precinct; State Library and Town Hall in the CBD; and Anzac, near the Shrine, on St Kilda Road. They are due to open in 2025.

North Melbourne renewal

And in North Melbourne’s Arden-Macaulay urban renewal precinct, where build-to-rent operators are exercising their development experiment, a pair of long-time investors are set to offload a couple of sheds at 77-87 Mark Street for more than $20 million.

The 5735 sq m site is zoned mixed use and expected to be redeveloped as a high-rise project. Kennon architects has drawn up a scheme for a 12 level development.

One of the warehouses is currently leased to Menzies Institute of Technology. It will be nearby to the new train stations.

Colliers agents Andrew Ryan, Jozef Dickinson and Stephen Ryan are running expressions of interest.