Waverley Park up for sale as Hawks fly south to new training base

Colliers agents Rob Joyes, Ben Baines, Lucas Soccio, James Zhuang and Ian Sanders are managing the two separate campaigns.

Court views

The second Melbourne CBD office to hit the market this year belongs to Barristers Chambers, which owns and leases a swag of city buildings occupied by members of the Victorian Bar.

Barristers Chambers, established in 1959, is consolidating a number of CBD chambers in to 200 Queen Street, a building the company bought in August from Charter Hall for $176.93 million.

It is now selling Douglas Menzies Chambers, a 52-year-old building at 180 William Street – overlooking the Supreme Court – which it bought in June 1992 for the recession-era price of $6 million. The office previously sold in 1987 for $8.15 million, just as the stock market crashed.

The building is expected to fetch about $25 million in this cycle, with Colliers agents Matt Stagg, Nick Garoni and Yvonne Zhou holding court.

The 12-storey office, comprising 3401 square metres, is on a 395-square-metre parcel of land on the corner of Little Bourke and William streets and was the site of the former Four Courts Hotel.

Humphries heritage

Rotherwood, the art deco block of flats in Camberwell built by the developer father of the late comedian Barry Humphries, has finally sold.

Developer Mimmo Scrimizzi, who in 2022 described the 1939-era flats as “shit”, had to accept $7.3 million for the block at 570 Riversdale Road. He paid the Humphries family $9.1 million in 2021 but had tried to flip the site several times since for $10 million or more.

Scrimizzi’s plans for 15 luxury apartments never got off the ground. Records show a caveat has been placed on the property by Maleela Projects, a company controlled by the wealthy Gunn family’s PGA Developments.

PGA Developments has a pipeline of small residential and commercial projects across the suburbs, suggesting it might have more luck – and certainly more capital – than Scrimizzi. Savills agents Julian Heatherich, James Latos and Beau Bakhtani handled the transaction.

The nine-unit block is on 2140 square metres, close to Camberwell Junction and has stood empty during the current housing crisis.

Comme des Garçons

A laneway shop leased to Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons is on the market. The boutique at 13 Somerset Place is tucked away, well off the main streets, shopping centres and high fashion thoroughfares around Collins Street.

Comme Des Garçons has been trading its faux-French stripey T-shirts out of the warehouse shop for more than 10 years and has another three years and a five-year option in its pockets.

The 148-square-metre, two-storey space is at the rear of Rankins House, a warehouse with frontage to Rankins Lane and apartments upstairs. The building was strata-titled in the early 1990s.

It’s on the market for the first time in 17 years and is expected to sell for between $1.5 and $1.6 million. Cushman & Wakefield agents Anthony Kirwan, Jeff Ha and Jack Cooper are handling inquiries.

Also for sale in the CBD, is the building that houses SOT Dining restaurant, in the sought-after top-end of Bourke Street. SOT, run by ex-Nobu and Firebird chef Doowon Lee, has a seven-year lease with options and an 11pm liquor licence.

The 233-square-metre building, spread over three storeys, is on 118 square metres at 98 Bourke Street. It last traded in 1985 for $910,000. The vendor tried to sell in 2007, but the property passed in at auction. It is expected to sell for about $5 million. Last year, the Hill of Content bookshop at No.84 sold for $5.3 million and No.147 fetched $5.5 million.

CBRE agents Alex Brierley, Nathan Mufale and Jing Jun Heng are taking inquiries. The top end of Bourke Street is attracting serious money and entertainment venues with Chris Lucas’ Batard Maison opening last year and work continuing at the O’Brien Group’s Juliet’s Terrace on the old Jobs Warehouse site.

‘Silicon Yarra’ scores a sale

One of the biggest deals in Cremorne, aka “Silicon Yarra”, has been struck with an owner-occupier splashing out $18 million on 58-76 Stephenson Street in the riverside suburb.

The 1695-square-metre parcel of land has two warehouses in a commercial 2 zone and was owned for 30 years by one of the area’s former rag trade businesses. Records show the vendor, Con Constanti’s Marcott, paid $312,990 in 1995.

The Cremorne market has been muted in the past few years with major listings, such as the Stitches warehouse, failing to reach their vendors’ desired prices. This deal, done off-market by Cushman & Wakefield’s Anthony Kirwan and Raphael Favas, was struck at $10,619 on a short settlement.

While the development deals have been slow, construction is revving up with work starting on several sites along Church Street.

The ’Bool rules

ASX-listed Region Group (formerly SCA Property Group) has sold a shopping centre in Warrnambool to an Asian capital-backed investor for $20.8 million in an off-market deal negotiated by Colliers agent Tim McIntosh.

The sub-5.5 per cent yield is the strongest result achieved in the sector for more than a year and demonstrates how popular essentials-based neighbourhood centres are compared with bigger shopping centres.

This week, billionaire Nick Andrianakos bought a half-stake in Northland, in Preston, for $385 million on a yield well above 6 per cent and $25 million less than its book value.

The East Warrnambool centre is anchored by Woolworths and includes seven shops. It’s located off Raglan Parade in the road into town from Melbourne.

It’s the second property sold by Region in Warrnambool recently. The Target centre in the middle of town sold for $17.9 million.

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