Heady Cremorne auction roars 70 per cent through reserve price

National Retail Group’s Michael Spektor was spotted bidding on behalf of the buyer – but not for his usual associates, who run the listed Chemist Warehouse chain.

Spektor said he bought for a local family planning to refurbish and extend the property before bringing it back to the market for lease.

One under-bidder flew from Sydney, while others were local furniture retailers hoping to snare their own footprint on the strip.

It was the first auction in four years on Church Street, with Cushman & Wakefield’s Jack Cooper taking the bids and Raphael Favas, George Davies and Anthony Kirwan handling the sales process.

The double-storey 408-square-metre building is on a 217 sq m parcel of land on the corner of Amsterdam Street and had been in the same family for almost 70 years.

“It was a small piece of land. I couldn’t have quoted more than $3 million for it – and even then, I got serious pushback on it,” Favas said.

Cult HQ

Meanwhile, Richard Munao, the Sydney-based founder of retailer Cult Design, is obviously planning to spend a lot more time in Melbourne, but in Fitzroy rather than Cremorne.

Munao, who recently splashed out $6.5 million on the Tait Furniture shop at 209-211 Smith Street, has also emerged as the buyer of Chapter Group’s Fitzroy Fitzroy penthouse up the road at 411-421 Smith Street.

The retailer also bought two of the building’s three retail lots – about 800 sq m – for Cult’s new headquarters and flagship showroom.

The deal, understood to be worth more than $10 million, will involve Cult furnishing the development’s communal areas.

The nine-level 52-unit Fitzroy Fitzroy project, designed by DKO, retains the red-brick facade of the old MacRobertson’s garage and workshop.

Records show Dean Lefkos’ Chapter Group paid $16 million for the 1820 sq m site in 2019. Construction is expected to be completed next year.

Leafy boulevard

Another office building on St Kilda Road’s leafy boulevard has quietly come to market. So quiet, its agents aren’t even quoting a price.

The former Victoria Police headquarters at 412 St Kilda Road, a 17-storey office building near the new Anzac railway station, was bought for $107 million in 2019.

Singapore-based SC Capital Partners paid a serious premium. Then vendor UEM Sunrise had picked it up for $58 million in 2015 with plans for a new luxury development designed by the late starchitect Zaha Hadid.

Other towers have suffered steep falls in value as the boulevard returns to its residential roots, especially in the block stretching from 424-480 St Kilda Road, where the vacancy rate has been hovering around 40 per cent.

Bayley Stuart picked up No. 468 for $42.55 million from Australian Unity, who had it on their books at $63 million; developer John Marro bought No. 432 for $28 million – a third less than the vendor, British fund manager abrdn, paid in 2014; and this year, Hong Kong-based Mars group listed 420 St Kilda Road for $50 million after paying $98 million in 2019.

No. 412 is in the better patch of St Kilda Road, near the new station, and where the vacancy rate hovers around 20 per cent. It’s 80 per cent leased after a splashy refurbishment.

Colliers agents John Marasco and Anna Cavar, with Cushman & Wakefield’s Nick Rathgeber and Leigh Melbourne, have the listing.

Knight Frank research by Tony McGough shows 36 offices have been converted to residential since 1995, with the number of dwellings increasing more than sevenfold to 8929 since 1992 and by 29 per cent in the past three years.

McGough identifies two parts of the precinct as still good for offices – around the Alfred Hospital and Anzac station. Fingers crossed.

Divine intervention

It was third time lucky for St Joseph’s Home for Destitute Boys in Surrey Hills. Records show former Mag Nation newsagent Vali Valibhoy has put a caveat over the property.

No longer a cult magazine seller, Valibhoy has turned Mag Nation into a property company, completing small projects in North Fitzroy and Brunswick.

The orphanage, established by Mary MacKillop in 1890, is a step up in scale and complexity. It first went to market in 2020 with a price tag of $25 million; two years later, that fell to $20 million-plus. It’s believed last year’s asking price of around $20 million finally met a willing buyer.

Stonebridge agents Julian White, Andrew Milligan and Chao Zhang got the deal over the line but declined to comment on the price.

The vendor, Youth With a Mission Church, which runs a much-advertised not-for-profit Medical Ship charity, bought the huge 9147 sq m site at 1 Kent Road in 1999.

The property, set in the English Counties precinct near Chatham Station, has some heritage protection.

Carlton

A boarding house operation behind Lygon Street, Carlton, is for sale after more than 30 years in the same family.

Three properties at 236 and 238-40 Faraday Street and 12-18 Powell Lane, at its rear, are on two titles covering 598 sq m of land.

Records show they last changed hands during the recession of the early 1990s for a total of $646,500. They’re expected to fetch around $6 million.

Colliers’ Josef Dickinson, Aaron Choong and Philip Heberling have the listing.

Broadie

Broadmeadows’ former Centrelink office has sold to a not-for-profit owner-occupier for $8.5 million after only three weeks on the market.

The 2185 sq m office at 16–22 Pearcedale Parade is 4694 sq m of land, with car parking, in the heart of the Broadie CBD near other government buildings. Colliers’ Alex Browne, Travis Keenan and Ben Baines did the deal.

South Yarra

There aren’t too many development sites left in South Yarra’s formerly industrial Forrest Hill precinct, but one of a clutch of low-rise office warehouses on Claremont Street is back on the market.

The former office of tyre industry supplies business Sealtite International faces Melbourne High School’s hockey ground at 24-26 Claremont Street.

The business has moved out to Hallam and its owners, who bought the property 40 years ago for $105,000, are selling it unconditionally.

Now a deceased estate, it’s for sale through Gross Waddell ICR agents Andrew Greenway and Michael Gross. It’s quoted at more than $6 million, which sounds cheap for South Yarra. But with the long settlement period preferred by developers ruled out, owner-occupiers are expected to be keen.