Capital Gain
Luxury Singaporean fragrance retailer, Prestige Brands, has splashed out $10.75 million on an empty three-storey building on Little Collins Street.
asserted
retailer → splash → Street
It’s a serious vote of confidence in the CBD that helps re-establish Little Collins Street’s retail credentials after years as a building site.
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that → ’ → site
The historic building at 285 Little Collins Street faces the rear of the recently rebuilt Melbourne Walk arcade and the old David Jones building.
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building → face → arcade
That puts it within sniffing distance of the Mecca flagship superstore in Bourke Street Mall and its equally new neighbours, the Holiday Inn and Hotel Indigo.
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That → put → Mall
The luxury fragrance store might offset some of the testosterone generated by the Rodd & Gunn, Patagonia and Timberland shops which have opened at the back of Mecca and the hotels.
uncertain
which → offset → Mecca
Established in 1983, the Prestige Group sells a wide range of luxury and premium fragrances and cosmetics.
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Group → establish → fragrances
It’s understood the business, which recently bought properties in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, is planning a national rollout.
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which → understand → rollout
The off-market deal was negotiated by Teska Carson’s Stephen Speck and Michael Ludski, MAKER Property’s Anthony Kirwan and CBRE’s Angus Windred who all declined to comment on the buyer’s identity.
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who → negotiate → identity
But we did get a hint of the buyer’s exacting standards.
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we → get → standards
“They really wanted to be in the core.
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They → want → core
We took videos up and down Little Collins Street to demonstrate the area’s 24/7 trading but the walk through Mecca on a Saturday afternoon sealed the deal,” Kirwan told Capital Gain.
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Kirwan → take → Gain
The price reflects a building rate of nearly $18,000 a square metre.
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price → reflect → 18,000
The building last changed hands in 1996 for $1 million and was most recently leased to GLDNN boutique and Miss Fox beauty spa.
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building → change → boutique
Mall mania
Spring has brought forth a wave of shopping centres and supermarkets to market following some serious deal activity.
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Spring → bring → activity
Vendors have finally made the decision, mostly because “there are more opportunities for their money now,” Stonebridge Property Group’s Justin Dower said.
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Dower → make → money
Dower and colleague Kevin Tong have several on their slate.
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Dower → have → slate
The Singapore-based Ding family is selling Central Square in Ballarat and expecting around $36 million for the 23,373 sq m sub-regional centre on Armstrong Street.
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family → base → Street
It’s anchored by Myer and Target and last changed hands in 1995 for $16.57 million.
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It → anchor → million
If fully leased, it would return $2.93 million.
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it → lease → million
Also on the horizon is the Polaris Woolworths and Dan Murphy’s bottleshop on Plenty Road, Bundoora which is expected to fetch around $25 million.
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which → expect → million
The 5807 sq m centre has nine speciality shops and returns $1.46 million a year.
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centre → have → million
Stonebridge is also marketing a new neighbourhood centre in Cobblebank, anchored by Coles, which has price expectations in the high $40 million range.
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which → market → range
The 6326 sq m centre has a 10-year lease to Coles until 2033 and 15 shops.
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centre → have → 2033
It’s on a 20,858 sq m piece of land and returns $2.65 million a year in rent.
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It → ’ → rent
And in Epping North, the ASX-listed Region Group is selling the Epping North Shopping Centre through the Stonebridge team and JLL’s Stuart Taylor and Tom Noonan.
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Group → list → team
The 5376 sq m centre is anchored by a recently refurbished Woolworths supermarket and is expected to fetch in the mid-to-high $30 million range.
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centre → anchor → range
It’s on 1.47 hectares on the corner of Lyndarum Drive and Epping Road and a short drive from the Epping Home & Life large format centre which sold last week for nearly $118 million.
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which → ’ → million
That deal, the largest since 2018, was done by JLL’s Taylor, Noonan and Nick Willis, more than doubled the vendor’s money.
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deal → do → money
Forza Capital bought the northern suburb’s centre for $54.25 million in 2023 from the ASX-listed HomeCo Daily Needs.
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Capital → buy → Needs
Meanwhile, QIC paid $55.87 million to Frasers Property for the Coles-anchored Mambourin Marketplace in the west.
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QIC → pay → west
The move came just days after it sold a half stake in Watergardens in Taylor Lakes to the Commonwealth Superannuation fund for $480 million.
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it → come → million
At the smaller end of the market, a free-standing Aldi in Seville in the outer east is also for sale and expected to fetch around $9 million.
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Aldi → stand → million
Plenty in it
A family has sold their expansive long-held home in Plenty, on the city’s northern fringe, for a stonking $9.35 million.
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family → sell → million
A local private developer purchased the deceased estate which is on 3.71 hectares at 29-47 Memorial Drive.
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which → purchase → Drive
The infill site has sweeping city views from its elevated perch and is expected to result in a land subdivision.
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site → have → subdivision
Cushman & Wakefield agents Joe Kairouz, Cameron Zamora and Hamish Burgess handled the campaign and received two unconditional offers after the first and second round offers.
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agents → handle → offers
The buyer won the day with a 120-day settlement.
“Multiple offers for a site of this scale are a strong result but ultimately, we were left with two unconditional offers, which created genuine competitive tension and helped drive the final result,” Kairouz said.
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Kairouz → win → result
The land is nestled in the Plenty Gorge Parklands north of Greensborough and Eltham.
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land → nestle → Greensborough
The soon-to-be-finished North-East Link is a short drive away.
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Link → finish → ?
The 3.4 hectares of land at 10 East Ridge Drive has planning approval for a 150-unit project and is surplus to a retirement village development undertaken by New Zealand group, Summerset Village.
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hectares → have → group
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
