Makers Mark (130)
A listed Singaporean developer is speculated to be making its first foray into the Australian property market, paying a rumoured $28.5 million for a 483-square-metre Collins Street site with a ministerial-approved permit for a landmark 55-level office and apartment tower.
The Makers Mark building at 464-466 Collins Street is being offloaded by Equiset Grollo, which bought it for $10.5 million late 2012 then lobbied the state government to approve a super high-density proposal unveiled seven months later.
When the building traded 10 years ago, it was worth just $3.5 million.
Equiset's proposed $200 million tower would be configured with 37 levels of apartments. The balance of the building includes 3000 square metres of office space and a 70-bay car park.
CBRE's Mark Wizel, Josh Rutman and Tom Tuxworth represented Equiset.
Also this week Singapore's Figtree Holdings bought a residential development site at 293-299 La Trobe Street for $14 million. The Bennetts Lane Jazz Club site also sold to a China-based developer for more than $10 million.
63 Exhibition Street (195)
It has been a particularly busy week for the office of the Planning Minister, with six skyscraper applications landing on his desk.
The latest submission seeks to rebuild 63 Exhibition Street in the CBD as a 67-level mixed-use tower containing 328 flats, 225 hotel rooms but just 20 car parks.
The 14-level, 6048-square-metre building on the site is known as the MOFS Centre – an acronym for a tenant which also leases naming rights, the Melbourne Oral and Facial Surgery.
Some may remember the building as ASF House or Citicorp House. In 2001, a permit was granted to replace the property between Collins and Flinders streets with a 33-level apartment complex.
Instead it was bought by private investor Sam Suleman in 2002 for $12.5 million. He sold it off-market for $28 million in March. The plot is 849 square metres.
Earlier this week, Planning Minister Matthew Guy also received an application for a 28-level, 274 unit residential tower at 68-70 Dorcas Street, South Melbourne. Another four buildings, the tallest rising 34 storeys, were also submitted for a site at 7-23 Spencer Street, behind the 13-level Crowne Plaza hotel.
Glicks Carnegie Sale (126)
The owners of one of Melbourne's most successful family businesses – Glick's Cakes and Bagels – have sold to a Chinese developer the Carnegie site that for 30 years was company headquarters.
At 1056-1060 Dandenong Road, and on a 4147-square-metre block, the property sold in May for $9.4 million after being listed last August with price expectations of about $7 million.
Glick's was established in Balaclava in the late 1960s. With outlets in Melbourne and Sydney, Glick's has relocated its office and industrial operations to the Clayton area, even further south-east than Balaclava and Carnegie.
CBRE's Justin Clarkson and Mark Wizel represented the vendors in last year's public campaign. The site was listed with a permit for a 10-level, 172-unit apartment complex.
Aquavista Sale (96)
A Melbourne investor has paid $5.3 million for 110 strata-titled car parks across three levels of the Aquavista building at 401 Docklands Drive in Docklands.
Developer MAB pays annual rent of just over $430,000 to occupy the bays. On that basis the sale reflects a yield of 8.2 per cent. The price values each bay at about $48,200.
Knight Frank's Marcus Quinn and Langton McHarg marketed the investment with Property Edge Australia's Chris Lang.
Aquavista, a mid-rise office MAB developed within the group's New Quay precinct of Docklands, includes 400 on-site undercover car parks.
Walker Land-banks More of Balwyn (138)
Prominent eastern suburbs real estate agent Paul Walker is continuing to land-bank adjoining commercial sites in Balwyn that have the potential to be replaced as major apartment buildings – or at least on-sold at a profit.
This time the investor has paid $3.56 million for a double-storey office at 1A Weston Street, on a 1132-square-metre block. It is next door to another Weston Street office that Walker already owns.
The properties are at the corner of two quiet residential streets behind busy Whitehorse Road, which is serviced by a tram route. GormanKelly's Sandro Peluso confirmed the sale of 1A Weston but refused to comment on the vendor or purchaser.
Also in Balwyn, last year, Walker paid $2.9 million for a Midas outlet at 267 Whitehorse Road, near his First National real estate head office at 279 Whitehorse Road.
Train line (300)
On whether there is merit using the Melbourne Airport Rail Link as a passenger track with new stops, including one at Airport West's Shoppingtown, the government developer has responded to Westfield's "no comment" with a warning it would now amend legislation to prevent it ever happening.
But an interventionist minister could override that decision if a case is made in future.
The proposed ARL will use a substantial portion of the existing Albion-Jacana freight line, which snakes through Melbourne's north-west. It will then turn into the airport only a few hundred metres from Westfield's shopping centre, which is also a major local tram and bus interchange.
Westfield chose not to comment on the potential for a train stop at Airport West Shoppingtown.
But a Melbourne Rail Link spokeswoman did, saying additional stations along the proposed route would risk the promised "reliable 25-minute journey" to Southern Cross. Trains from the airport will depart every 10 minutes.
"The Moving Victoria – Rail Office will work with Public Transport Victoria to identify appropriate future proofing should there be a longer term consideration regarding [new train station] development of this corridor," she said.
SGS Economics and Planning Principal Marcus Spiller agrees nothing should be done to compromise the efficiency of the rail link in delivering people to and from the airport.
"But allowing for commuter stations between the airport and Sunshine would offer a number of benefits," he said. "The Keilor corridor already has a relatively strong profile in terms of skilled labour force. Giving the Melbourne CBD and Footscray better access to these skills would boost the productivity of the central city, a known driver of the Victorian economy."
Earlier this year Westfield contributed land at its Southland shopping centre for the development of a new train station that will in turn swell the value of its asset.
Email: marcpallisco@gmail.com
Twitter: @marcpallisco
