- Industrial remains hot, with developments, listings and sales recorded
- An iconic Lygon Street hotel is sold for over $17M
- A former police station has also been listed for sale in Burwood
In the latest listings, sales, and developments for Melbourne, tailwinds on the industrial sector continue to make developments attractive for major players, and push prices up for tightly held blocks across some of Melbourne’s most active industrial areas.
Iconic hotels also made the list, with a mix of listings and sales also including aged care, office developments, and more.
23ha development launches at Cobblebank
Frasers Property Industrial has launched two new industrial estates in light of the strong sector demand. One estate is in Sydney, with the second being Westcourse, a 23.4-hectare estate located in Melbourne’s outer western suburb of Cobblebank.
The property enjoys excellent convenient access to the Western Freeway, and will deliver circa 100,000 square metres of facilities.
“These important industrial estates, located in strategic regions of greater Sydney and Melbourne, will unlock critical new facilities for customers whose needs remain at the forefront of our strategy,” said Ian Barter, Managing Director Australia, at Frasers Property Industrial.
“Edge and Westcourse will support Australia’s supply chain, while also expanding our presence in key growth areas,” added Barter, who also noted Frasers has a strong development pipeline and 100% occupancy rate.
Local developer acquires 3,850sqm block for $4.4M
An industrial-zoned land in Northern Melbourne’s Epping has sold for $4.427 million. The 3,850 square metre block of land is located at 25 Longford Road, and is permitted for a 2,444 square metre office and warehouse facility.
Fitzroys’ Brent Glassford and Marco Sandrin sold the property in conjunction with John Georgiou of NAI Harcourts on behalf of a private family.
The facility will comprise a 2,062 square metre warehouse with roller shutter doors, a 382 square metre corporate office over two levels, large canopy, dual crossovers and on-site staff parking.
13ha of industrial land listed in Truganina
Located at 64-118 Greigs Road, the recently listed 13.62-hectare parcel of land is largely vacant, and is designated for industrial and mixed-use development. The land boasts a 462.32-metre frontage to Greigs Road and is situated in a very tightly-held industrial area.
“Truganina is the largest and most active industrial precinct in the country and is currently experiencing record low vacancy and unprecedented rental growth in excess of 50% in the last 2 years,” said Savills‘ Laagan Whalan.
“These factors, combined with a severe shortage of industrial land for development across Melbourne make this offering a highly attractive site. Surrounding the property is major industrial estates developed by Goodman and Logos, who have secured major occupiers such as James Hardie & Metcash and the site also benefits from anticipated future infrastructure development such as the Outer Metropolitan Ring Road & West Gate Tunnel Project as well as neighbouring major shopping centres and retail amenities,” added Whalan.
Private investor sells 43 Hall Street for $3M
The property had been owned by a local private investor for 47 years, recently parting ways with the property in a $2.95 million transaction, sold by Fitzroy’s Chris Kombi and Ervin Niyaz.
Located within the Activity Centre Zone, the 233 square metre property has 10 metres of frontage and comprises a fully-leased 320 square metre building with two ground-floor shops and two first-floor offices, and four on-site car parks. The property sold on a tight 3.7% return on the net passing rental.
Kombi said multiple bidders, including landbankers and investors, competed for the property.
“We had investors looking to get into what is a fast up-and-coming retail and lifestyle precinct, with both excellent trading prospects and future rental growth potential due to the ongoing completion of new buildings in the surrounds,” Kombi said.
8,000 sqm corner block in Doncaster hits the market
Located at 584-588 Doncaster Road, the 8,176 square metre parcel is being listed for sale by Savills. The site has permit approval for an 11-level, 260 apartment project, and has easy access to Westfield Doncaster, the bus interchange, and Eastern Freeway and Tram Road.
“Doncaster’s population is forecast to increase 18% by 2031, indicating strong residential dwelling growth will be required within the local area to meet future housing needs,” said Julian Heatherich, State Director – CBD and Metropolitan Sales at Savills.
The site sits within the Doncaster Hill Activity Centre, governed by the Manningham City Council, and is considered a prime location for redevelopment given existing physical and community infrastructure assets such as the local schools and recreational facilities, hotel accommodation, places of worship, office buildings and medium density residential developments
Former Burwood Police Station listed
The parcel of Crown Land, formerly a police station, has been recently been listed. The 804 square metre corner lot includes a 180 square metre single-level building and is zoned Commercial 1.
Situated at 64 Burwood Highway, Burwood, the property is roughly half an hour east of the Melbourne CBD, and has good amenity.
“The property is located opposite recognisable retailers McDonald’s, Mazda, and Coles Express. Furthermore, just 4 kilometres away is Chadstone Shopping Centre – the largest shopping mall in the Southern Hemisphere,” noted Savills’ Benson Zhou.
Melbourne aged care home comes to market
A Noble Park aged care facility located along 521-523 Princes Highway is being divested, with Savills facilitating the sale.
The 60-bed facility sits on 4,456 square metres of land and has serviced the South-Eastern Community since the 1970s.
“Despite softening market conditions, the life sciences sector and Residential Aged Care (RAC) Facilities specifically have proven to be resilient assets owing to their versatility and ability to be leased or occupied by essential services,” noted Heatherich.
A-grade Melbourne office on offer
Located on the CBD fringe at 294-296 Hoddle Street, Abbotsford, a 1,864 square metre Commercial 2 zoned site has come to market. Cushman & Wakefield said it is an opportunity for developers and owner-occupiers to create either a brand new A Grade office building, strata office with major ground floor retail, automotive showroom, or higher density/hotel development.
According to architectural schemes prepared by Hayball architects, a likely development would include an office scheme providing circa 21,500 square metres of gross floor area (GFA) or 15,500 square metres of net lettable area (NLA). The site has the potential to develop up to 12 storeys and planning advice has been sought from Tract.
Daniel Wolman, Marcus Neill, Leon Ma and Oliver Hay, of Cushman &Wakefield’s Melbco team have been appointed to sell the property, with Wolman noting the area has seen considerable change over the years.
“Abbotsford is a prominent early industrial area of Melbourne which has developed into a funky place to live and work, with an array of bars and restaurants and excellent public transport.
“It provides an eclectic mixture of amenities and attracts a young population with over 46% of the residents of Abbotsford being within 25-40 years of age” he said.
Iconic Lygon Street hotel acquired for $17M
Located along 220-228 Lygon Street, Carlton, the Lygon Lodge recently changed hands for $17,380,000. The property had been family owned and operated for over 25 years ahead of the recent sale, which saw the property acquired by a hotel operator.
Comprising 60 guest rooms and two ground-floor restaurants, the property sits on a 1,019 square metre site, half a kilometre north of Melbourne Central.
“Given its location in a favourable Commercial 1 zone, any purchaser of this property had a wealth of options available to them, be that leaving the hotel as it is, changing the floor plates, refurbishing throughout or adding further to the existing structure,” said Zhou.
“With supply of accommodation across Victoria being relatively low, particularly for existing hotel assets, the demand to purchase is at record highs, with investors understanding the opportunity hotel assets offer to hedge against rising interest rates and inflationary pressure,” said Savills’ Nick Lower.
