More CBD Buildings Changing Hands
A group of investors acquired the 965sqm three-level Chinatown building for $6.85 million in the latest sub-$20 million CBD transaction, with hospitality venues continuing to feature prominently.
The 26 Corrs Lane property is home to Sichuan House on the ground floor, Fukuryu Ramen above and nightclub Playground in the basement level, and returns around $225,700pa.
In recent weeks, co-founder of construction software firm Aconex, Rob Phillpot, acquired adjoining city buildings for a combined $22.35 million. The three-level building at 39-41 Little Collins Street is leased to Italian restaurant Lipino on the ground floor, and the two-level building at 37 Little Collins Street is home to tapas venue Bar Lourinha.
That followed the premises of Chinatown restaurant Shark Fin House at 131-135 Little Bourke Street selling for $14.5 million to Malaysia-based MKS Empire.
Southern Indoor Bowls Club Sells Up
A high-end residential development is likely to take the place of Melbourne’s second-last indoor lawn bowls venue, after a local developer paid $10.261 million to purchase the Southern Indoor Bowls Club in Caulfield.
The 2,295sqm site at 348-354 Hawthorn Road has been home to the club for 51 years, but developments in drainage systems and synthetic grasses have reduced the need for indoor lawns and prompted the club to sell off its premises. Funds will be directed to local lawn bowls clubs, and it the deal leaves Brighton Bowling Club as Melbourne’s last remaining indoor venue.
The Caulfield site’s existing three-level building was previously home to the Camden Theatre.
Owners Combine For St Kilda Road Apartment Block Site
A 1960s apartment block on the corner of St Kilda Road and Alma Road has sold to a developer from Melbourne’s south-east for $11.5 million, after all 21 strata owners agreed to take the property to market.
The 1,070sqm site, addressed 14 Alma Road, is zoned Commercial 1 and has 21 one-bedroom apartments of around 35sqm, and traded with approval for a 10-level building of 35m in height.
Hengyi Takes Historic Mt Eliza Site
Chinese-backed developer Hengyi has paid $17 million for the 3.41ha former hospital and Beachleigh Estate site in Mt Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula.
Beachleigh Estate was built in 1878 as a private residence overlooking Canadian Bay, and with the addition of further buildings the site became the Orthopaedic Branch of the Royal Children’s Hospital in the interwar years.
It has since been used an aged care facility and administration site for Peninsula Health.
The vendors were Peninsula Health and the Victorian Department of Health and Services.
Hengyi is in the final stages of construction of the 72-storey, 1,000-plus apartment Swanston Central development on the former Carlton and United Breweries site.
Disclosure: The weekly Fitzroys Property Wrap is for information only on transactions in the Melbourne property market. Fitzroys provides this information as a public service. We are not purporting that all sales and leases within this report were transacted by Fitzroys. Terms/Privacy © Copyright 2019 Fitzroys.