Melbourne’s biggest commercial sale to date

The purchase by Singapore’s Fragrance Group of 555 Collins Street for $78 million was the biggest commercial deal in Melbourne for June.

Known as Enterprise House, it is a 24-storey building with 22,273 square metres of lettable space.

Vendor Stamoulis Group had bought the building from the Victorian Government in 2002 for almost $41 million.

Fragrance Group, which in the past two months has also bought Melbourne’s Savoy Tavern in Spencer Street and the building at 173 Macquarie Street in Hobart, intends to redevelop the Collins Street corner site into a high-rise mixed use tower, according to selling agents CBRE.

For the June quarter, the most lucrative deal was the sale for $130 million of the 24,515sqm QBE House at 624-634 Bourke Street, according to real estate research firm Melbourne Cityscope.

The Enterprise House transaction was the next largest, followed by the 340-room Rendezvous Hotel in Flinders Street, which went for $59.3 million.

June-quarter commercial sales in Melbourne rose to $644.7 million from 75 deals, Cityscope data showed.

The figure was nearly three times greater than the March quarter sales of $285.8 million from 59 properties and down from the $1 billion netted from 83 sales in the December quarter.

The figure was nearly three times greater than the March quarter sales of $285.8 million.

The 12-month total for Melbourne to the end of June was $2.6 billion from 283 deals compared to $2.3 billion from 221 sales for the previous financial year.

The biggest transaction in Sydney for the month was Investa Office Fund’s purchase of the 16,300sqm tower at 6 O’Connell Street for $135 million. The building houses 40 tenants, with about 10 per cent of the space vacant.

The 2155sqm building at 440 Sheridan Street, in Cairns, which sold at auction for $12.8 million was Queensland’s top deal in June, according to analytics firm RPData.

Western Australia’s biggest sale was a residential development at 47 Lakes Road, Hazelmere, which changed hands for $9.7 million.

NSW child care centres auctioned for $9.1 million

Agents Burgess Rawson sold seven child care centres in NSW and Queensland at auction for a total of $9.1 million in June, RPData research showed.

The largest deal was $2.1 million for a 228sqm building on 1933sqm of land in Orchard Street, Baulkham Hills, NSW.

The cheapest transaction was $620,000 for a 308sqm NSW regional daycare centre on 1422sqm in Hercules Street, Tamworth.

In other auctions, two supermarkets sold by Burgess Rawson attracted the heftiest price tags of all commercial property auctioned in NSW in June.

The Sydney suburban store at 195 Birdwood Road, in Bankstown, went under the hammer for $8.87 million, while $6.33 million was the winning bid for the Bi-Lo Supermarket at 54 Old Bar Road, in regional Old Bar.

Matilda Bay Brewery to be turned in 500 strong apartment complex

The North Fremantle Matilda Bay Brewery site that sold last month for $36 million is likely to be redeveloped into a 500-apartment complex.

The Foster’s Group owned brewery, which stopped producing beer in 2007, sits on almost 3 hectares of industrial-zoned land at 130 Stirling Highway.

The City of Fremantle has begun rezoning the area to “development” to assist the new foreign based purchaser’s plan for a high density project. However, some of the 7700sqm of buildings on the site are heritage listed and likely to remain part of any new residential development.

Indian restaurant hot spot sold for $1.87 million

The building housing Indian restaurant Royale Fusion, at 128 Lygon Street, Carlton, has been sold for $1.87 million.

Auctioneer Teska Carson said the buyer and one other of the three investors bidding on the Melbourne property was Asian.

Agent Matthew Feld said Asian investors formed half of the enquiries for the two-storey, 230sqm Victorian terrace in the popular restaurant strip on the CBD’s doorstep,

Warehouse sale

A school furniture manufacturer has paid almost $4 million for a warehouse at 69-75 Glenvale Crescent, in Mulgrave.

Located in Melbourne’s Enterprise Park Business Estate, the 10,000sqm site has 934sqm of offices over two levels next to a 2809sqm warehouse.

Joint selling agents Crabtrees and Savills said current tenant LMI Concepts, which also makes furniture, has a $300,000-a-year lease until the end of the year.

Canberra’s light rail project delayed

Canberra’s Capital Metro light rail project may have come to a halt for now, but the territory’s government is planning to get it back on track with revenue raising strategies.

Some estimates suggest the projected spending to build the light rail network may have blown out to $900 million from the $600 million it was first forecast to cost, a report by agents Knight Frank said.

Establishing preferential zoning and increasing land values in areas linked to the project are two measures that are hoped will attract funds to make up the financing shortfall.

Also in Canberra, fund manager Quintessential Equity has paid AMP Capital $18 million for the six-storey building at 10 Moore Street.

The 6700sqm Optus Centre is the second property Quintessential has bought in the street after its March purchase of 14 Moore Street for about $23 million.

In neighbouring Queanbeyan, just outside the ACT, AMP Capital has also sold a shopping centre to Colonial First State.

The 22,000sqm Riverside Plaza at 131 Monaro Street changed hands for $62.5 million. It is anchored by retailers Target, Coles and Best & Less and houses 40 specialty shops.