Spring sell-off: Melbourne sales ramp up at year end
A series of Melbourne city fringe and development sites are in play as build-to-rent developers and office companies scout out new opportunities.
The city has been through a hiatus of big-ticket sales but major corporations and landowners are looking to cash in with fresh property offerings.
Telstra is looking to offload an $80m asset in Melbourne’s southeastern suburb of Clayton. It is selling the largest remaining development site in the Monash National Employment and Innovation Cluster, directly opposite the university.
JLL’s Josh Rutman, Jesse Radisich, Noral Wild and MingXuan Li are handling the sale of 762-766 Blackburn Rd, with the sale process managed by Urbis.
The area is home to the new $564m Victorian Heart Hospital as well as medical and research facilities like CSIRO, BrainPark, Monash Health and the Australian Synchrotron.
Mr Radisich said the Monash cluster was a global centre of innovation and research, and had attracted billions of dollars of private and public investment.
There are also a number of opportunities for developers closer to the city. The Australian Red Cross is selling its 6526sq m North Melbourne site, with the $60m asset expected to be chased by medical, education, student accommodation and residential groups.
The site at 23-47 Villiers St, North Melbourne has mixed-use zoning. The JLL agents, led by Mr Rutman, are also handling that campaign, with Charter Keck Cramer as transaction advisor.
There are also a number of opportunities for developers closer to the city. Picture: David Caird
Mr Rutman said the site was in one of Melbourne’s most strategic and important locations, which was being supported by billions of dollars of investment from both the private and public sector.
“Underpinned by the under-construction Parkville Train Station, which forms part of the Metro Tunnel project, and the strong transport infrastructure that is driven by a strong workforce and education demographics from the University of Melbourne, this precinct is becoming a key focus for a wide range of businesses and organisations,” he said.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong-based Mars Family Holdings is selling a complex in Melbourne’s leafy St Kilda Rd precinct. It picked up the property at 424-426 St Kilda Rd for about $70m in 2019.
The property has approval for a development of up to 18 levels, subject to planning approvals, and Chinese-backed developer Woodlink had once proposed the $360m Illoura House apartment project on the site.
There are two six-level office buildings, joined by a large glass atrium, which span 12,074sq m on the site, and 175 basement car parks. CBRE’s Kiran Pillai and Tom Ryan, together with JLL’s Mr Rutman and Tim Carr, are handling the sale.
Mr Pillai said the asset would generate significant local and offshore buyer interest. “There is potential to explore opportunities for a major build-to-rent or build-to-sell redevelopment, capitalising on the site’s inner-city location and proximity to the new Anzac railway station,” he said.
Some deals have already been struck, like one of Australia’s largest urban renewal projects recently sold off-market to investment house BRC Developments for a health and biomedical innovation precinct.
The 5463sq m site at 189-203 Arden St, North Melbourne was brokered by Collier’s agents Trent Hobart and Robert Papaleo, with the $600m project to kick off in 2024.
More action is expected in offices in the city fringe precincts but the Docklands remains quiet. Super fund REST has opted to keep 717 Bourke St, with the 17-storey tower, worth close to $500m, to stay on its books after a sales campaign.
Buyers are also now chasing Mirvac’s 367 Collins St, which is part of its $1.3bn asset sales campaign, being offered via real estate agencies CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield.
