Dexus offloads major Fishermans Bend site

The 292 sq m strata office is on the ground floor of a new boutique apartment building at 142 Johnston Street, near the corner of Brunswick Street, and returns $159,000 a year in rent.

The lease to the Australian government has three years left to run.

CBRE agents Nathan Mufale, Scott Hawthorne, Alex Brierley and JJ Heng handled the transaction on behalf of a syndicate but declined to confirm the price other than to say it fetched a building rate just under $11,000 a sq m.

The property attracted six bids from a range of local and overseas investors.

Mr Mufale said strata properties rate highly for investors because they do not attract land tax.

Meanwhile, a shop in the same building, around the corner at 270 Young Street, is on the market.

That space has a 10-year lease to US-based indoor cycling franchise CycleBar, which is making its first foray into the Melbourne market.

Healthy buyer

It’s mostly owner-occupiers seeking strata in the CBD, especially in the medically focused 15 Collins Street tower.

The office taking up half of level 14 fetched $1.69 million at auction after bidding from six parties.

Colliers agent George Davies, who sold the property with Anthony Kirwan, said it sold 15 per cent over the reserve at a building rate of $12,071 a sq m.

In mid-town, a half-floor office on level 10 of 227 Collins Street, also fetched more than $12,000 a sq m.

An owner-occupier with other holdings in the jewellery-focused building beat two other second round offers for the 199 sq m office. It sold for $2.4 million.

Forrest Hill

Potential development sites are becoming thin on the ground in the Forrest Hill precinct in South Yarra.

However, the owners of tyre industry suppliers Sealtite International are selling their 1375 sq m office-warehouse at 24-26 Claremont Street after nearly 40 years.

The 750 sq m site, which fronts the playing fields of Melbourne High School, is in a zone earmarked for 50 metre heights and should fetch more than $15 million.

Records show it last changed hands in 1985 for $105,000. A lot has changed in the riverside location since then.

Redevelopment of the former industrial precinct started about 20 years ago and has not stopped with several apartment towers now overlooking the high school and South Yarra railway station.

Next on the drawing board are build-to-rent projects by US developer-investor Greystar, which is building a 30-level 328-apartment tower on Yarra Street and a second 21-storey building with 243 apartments nearby on Claremont Street.

Records show Bryan Dorman, founder of Regis Health Care, splashed out $8.8 million on Michael Yates’ cleared site 55 Claremont Street back in 2018.

The most recent deals in the neighbourhood front Toorak Road and fetched between $18,000 and $21,451 a sq m.

Teska Carson agents Luke Bisset and Michael Ludski are handling expressions of interest.

Bus terminal

The local operations of global travel company The Travel Corp (TTC) have off-loaded a bus terminal in the western suburbs for $6.4 million on a sharp yield of 1.99 per cent

The 4792 sq m parcel of land at 176 Hall Street is directly opposite Spotswood railway station and is leased until December 2023 to Melbright Coaches.

Records show TTC subsidiary Tracon Properties bought the site from AAT Kings, another TTC subsidiary, in 2007, paying $1.3 million.

Australian travel business AAT Kings, established in 1920, was bought by TTC in 1997.

There is a 1256 sq m office-warehouse on the land which has Industrial 3 zoning.

Melbright’s lease provides for an option or a 12-month early termination clause.

The deal was negotiated by MP Burke’s Pat Burke with CVA’s John Nockles representing Tracon.

Mr Burke said 13 parties made an offer for the property which attracted strong interest from developers, owner-occupiers and investors.

Shop sale

A block of five shops in the heart of Malvern has sold for $7.15 million on a yield of 4.1 per cent.

A local buyer snapped up the corner property at 193-195 Glenferrie Road, which is diagonally opposite a Coles supermarket.

Records show the shops last changed hands in 1969 for just $124,000.

The deal was struck by Fitzroys agents Chris Kombi and Mark Talbot and Aston Commercial’s Rodney King at a land rate of $21,280 a sq m and a building rate of $14,8896 a sq m.

The double-storey 460 sq m building, with five ground level shops and a first floor office, is fully leased and returns $310,000 a year in rent.

Mr Kombi said, “this was a generational opportunity to secure a significant freehold in the prime trading section of one of Melbourne’s strongest-performing retail strips.”

“We had huge interest and received multiple offers from investors and land bankers from Melbourne and across Australia,” he said.