Weekly Wrap

Fitzroys Weekly Wrap - 18th December 2020

Posted on 18th December 2020

148 Epsom Road, Ascot Vale
A local business bought the 2-storey 315sqm building on a 375sqm corner site for $2 million. Zoned Commercial 1, it has a short-term lease, 7 on-site parking spaces and a 10m frontage to Epsom Road.

Suite 48 & 49, 1 Ricketts Road, Mount Waverley
An owner occupier bought the vacant 341sqm strata office for $1.55 million. The private vendor had purchased the property in March 2019 for $1.4 million.

Unit 14, 51-55 City Road, South Melbourne
The office suite sold for $630,000 at a 6.44% yield.

341 King Street, West Melbourne
Engineering firm Zeke Consulting Group leased the office at $44,000.

48 Holmes Road, Moonee Ponds
A local developer bought the vacant 1,164sqm corner site for $2.811 million. It had previously been earmarked for a project with 11 apartments.

331-335 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
A local investor bought the vacant corner freehold for $2.055 million, at a land rate of $6,715/sqm.

299-301 Chapel Street, Prahran
Next door, a Hong Kong-based investor bought the 685sqm building on a 630sqm site for $12.5 million, at a 5.4% yield. Priceline has an 8+8-year lease from 2015 returning $691,000pa net.

1655 Thompsons Road, Cranbourne
An investor bought the United petrol station, on a 3,662sqm corner site, for $7.3 million. It has a 15-year lease with options to 2054 returning $398,704pa plus outgoings and GST.

111-115 Main Street, Croydon
Zoned Commercial 1, The 430sqm ANZ bank branch premises on a 617sqm site sold for $2.9 million, at a 4.31% yield. ANZ has a 3-year lease from May this year, plus options, that returns $125,000pa plus GST.

460 Burwood Road, Hawthorn
The 100sqm shop on a 184sqm site sold for $975,000. Gopi Ka Chatka leased the property earlier this year on a 3+3+3-year term at $45,000pa net.

1346 Toorak Road, Camberwell
A local owner occupier bought the vacant 426sqm single-level showroom for $1.79 million, and will move in after renovating the property. The 439sqm site is zoned Commercial 1.

600 High Street, Preston
Western Sydney-based charcoal chicken and kebab eatery El Jannah signed a 10-year lease over the 320sqm former Hungry Jack’s outlet, which is on a 1,300sqm corner site with 25 on-site parking spaces. It will pay $140,000pa with 3% annual increases.

58 Lygon Street, Carlton
Artemis Cade leased the 270sqm space for café, bar and restaurant for 5 years at $75,000pa.

32-34 Butler Way, Tullamarine
A freight forwarding company bought the 772sqm warehouse for $1.49 million, looking to increase their warehouse capacity due to increased demand for sanitiser and PPE.

1/29-31 Clarice Road, Box Hill South
A local owner occupier bought the office and warehouse for $720,000 as a new base for their plumbing business.

1/885 Mountain Highway, Bayswater
MotorOne signed a 10-year lease at $100/sqm for the 6,462sqm office and warehouse, which it will use as a manufacturing and distribution facility for its car-care products.

6/11 Clarice Road, Box Hill
$2 shop suppliers Kontact Pty Ltd leased the 278sqm warehouse at $25,000pa.

50 Banyan Drive, Cranbourne West
An investor bought the Imagine Childcare & Kindergarten property for $6.9 million. The 767sqm double-storey facility is on a 2,670sqm site, and has a new 20-year triple-net lease with options, returning $385,516pa plus GST.

80 Homebush Drive, Tarneit
ASX-listed HomeCo bought the Explorer Early Learning childcare centre property for $6.57 million. Licenced for 140 places, the 2,093sqm facility is on a 2,305sqm corner site with a 15+10+10-year lease to 2054, returning $378,000pa plus outgoings with 3% fixed annual increases.

5/40-42 Montclair Avenue, Glen Waverley
The 208sqm ground floor property home to Kingsway Medical Clinic sold for $1.296 million. Long-term tenants Hippo Medical Group and Sonic Healthcare return a combined $99,484pa plus GST with fixed 3% annual increases.

1036 Main Road, Eltham
Radiographer group Southern Cross Medical Imaging leased the 162sqm former Bendigo Bank branch building on a 5+5-year term, at $65,000 plus outgoings and GST.

Melbourne CBD Icons Paired Together in Landmark Deal
In an unprecedented pairing of Melbourne CBD icons, the Hopetoun Tea Rooms will reopen in the Kozminksy building at 421 Bourke Street, breathing new life into the historic landmark in the heart of the city.

Fitzroys Directors, Rick Berry and Rob Harrington introduced the property to Hopetoun and negotiated the lease.

Constructed in 1859, the 380sqm three-storey building is on the corner of laneway McKillop Street, moments from Bourke Street Mall.

It was built as a single-storey bluestone office for stock and station agency Kaye Butchart & Co., and a 2nd storey and stucco façade were added within 10 years. The Commercial Bank of Australia’s 1st-ever branch occupied the building from the 1880s, with a 3rd floor added for the lender in 1919.

More recently, the building was home for over 4 decades to the 169-year-old jewellery institution Kozminsky.

“Arriving at a time of renewed optimism for the city, this is one of the most notable CBD retail leasing deals of 2020,” Berry said.

“This is an unprecedented pairing of Melbourne CBD icons, and of the city’s past and future.

“The Kozminsky building has been unoccupied since the jeweller relocated, and the fact that this lease has been struck at this time demonstrates a huge confidence in the future of the Melbourne CBD.

“People are looking forward to authentic Melbourne experiences after being away from the CBD for an extended period.”

Berry said hospitality experiences are an intrinsic part of the soul and history of Melbourne.

“Melbourne’s city culture resonates with locals, with Australians and with tourists from all over the world.”

He said hospitality groups have shown interest in the building for some time. “It is appropriate that such a famous Melbourne identity will take up this icon.”

As well as being close to Bourke Street Mall, the city’s major shopping thoroughfare, the immediate location’s long-term future is further underpinned by the new Brookfield/ISPT- owned NAB headquarters at 405 Bourke Street and Cbus Property’s neighbouring $1 billion office tower project at 435 Bourke Street.

Berry said retail leasing activity has picked up in the CBD towards the end of 2020.

“We’ve been surprised by the volume of enquiry and the number of CBD lease deals we have finalised during November and December, and it looks like this activity will continue right throughout the break,” he said.

“The CBD is still relatively quiet, and the return of office workers into 2021, and ongoing easing of restrictions for cafés and hospitality venues should underpin a fresh round of leasing activity early next year.

“We have more than 15 CBD retail leasing negotiations underway right now, so February should see a string of new retailers opening up, which is great news for the CBD.

“Enquiry has come for all types of retail spaces. As well as landmark buildings, the city’s laneways have been also been attracting plenty of attention. Operators and Melburnians have been keenly anticipating the return of the hustle and bustle to the city, and the vitality of the landmarks and laneways that makes the Melbourne CBD so celebrated.”

Fitzroys has just secured multiple leasing deals to hospitality operators in Equitable Place, including a 7sqm space carved out of a disused lift shaft for cult hot chocolate specialists Mörk, as well as within the historic Manchester House, fronting Manchester Lane. Last week, Fitzroys finalised leases with a manufacturing jeweller for the 600sqm gallery level at 271 Collins Street, and a health provider for 90sqm in the building’s Elizabeth Street frontage.


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 2020 Fitzroys.