Developer to step on the gas in Prahran

The 118-126 High Street property, on the south-west corner of Thomas Street and opposite Swinburne University, near Chapel Street, was offloaded by the Deague family's Asian Pacific Building Corporation for $5.1 million this week.

APBC paid $10 million for the High Street service station, along with another Prahran site a?? a former Bob Jane T-Mart, at 160 Commercial Road a?? in late 2006.

It planned to build hotels on both sites to slot into its "art series" portfolio, which it has been developing over recent years.

But it proceeded only with the Commercial Road development a?? The Cullen a?? which made headlines in early 2009 when six storeys of scaffolding fell on to the street.

The 1218-square-metre High Street property, which was to have been known as The Larwill, sold with a permit for a 69-suite complex. But CB Richard Ellis director Mark Wizel, who marketed the site with Scott Orchard, said 118 High Street's new owner would retain the approved five-level building concept, which was designed by architects Rothelowman, but adapt the internal layout to provide fewer, but larger, apartments.

Mr Wizel said local buyers were continuing to compete for smaller sites, for which it was easier to obtain bank funding.

Earlier this year, APBC sold another development site, at 8-10 Daly Street, in South Yarra, which was also to have become an "art series" hotel, The Whiteley. But as well as The Cullen, it did build The Olsen in South Yarra and The Blackman in St Kilda Road.

Dexus office plan

SYDNEY-BASED fund manager Dexus Property Group has lodged plans to build a 15-level, 25,000-square-metre office building on a forecourt behind its prominent 360 Collins Street office tower.

The development would be bound by Little Collins Street, Briscoe Lane and Collins Way, and its office occupants would look down on the McKillop Street restaurant and retail strip.

Given the size of Dexus's proposal, the application has bypassed Melbourne City Council and been referred to the Department of Planning and Community Development. It would need to be approved by Planning Minister Matthew Guy.

Banks a lot

NON-BANK tenants will fill a historic city office building at 287 Collins Street for the first time.

ANZ sold the building to Brisbane-based Australian Property Growth Fund for $30.5 million in August 2007, but remained a tenant until 2009 while its Docklands headquarters were being built.

APGF has almost finished refurbishing the 10-storey, 5280 sq m building, which was built in about 1940 and previously known as the ANZ Royal Bank Chambers.

Leasing agents Colliers International and Savills are marketing the building, with asking rents of about $350 a sq m a year, before any incentives (a lure offered to tenants, often in the way of a rent discount, or a contribution to office fitout). Four levels have now been leased to corporate tenants.

Dressed to expand

WOMEN'S retailer Lorna Jane has chosen a former city boutique to establish its hundredth store.

Established in 1989 by businesswoman Lorna Jane Clarkson, the retailer has begun an aggressive growth strategy, saying it wants to open another 25 stores nationally this year.

The 111 sq m shop at 267 Little Collins Street was recently vacated by Pierucci. Colliers International's Ben Tremellen would not comment on the rent, but the shop was previously advertised with rent at $330,000 a year a?? or about $3000 a sq m.

Sign of the times

ENERGY broker energywatch.com.au has leased about 2000 sq m of refurbished office space in the historic Melbourne Steamship Company building at 27-31 King Street.

Energywatch will consolidate from four Melbourne offices, having signed a lease at King Street for four years, with a four-year option. The company recently said it wanted to increase its employees from 200 to 500 as part of an expansion into other IT businesses. It will pay a starting annual rent of about $500,000.

Teska Carson's Gideon Marcus is marketing the fully renovated building on behalf of its property developer owner, Massi.

The ground floor and a basement remain available for lease, with a licence to trade until 1am.

Energywatch said a big drawcard to 27 King Street was a prominent sign suspended to the front, between Flinders Lane and Flinders Street.

"We were able to lease it at wholesale rates for what we would have paid $20,000 to $30,000 a month to an outdoor media company," a company spokesman said.

"We don't have to compete for the space, and it's ours for the next eight years."

The company has promised to convert the billboard into a Melbourne landmark, like the Nylex sign.

Building fetches $5m

A SOUTH Melbourne office building at 144 Moray Street has sold for $5 million.

Owner-occupier O2 Networks bought the 1218 sq m building.

It generates annual rent of $118,400 from a 371 sq m ground floor lease, but was otherwise vacant.

Lemon Baxter director Chris Curtain sold the office, near the south-west corner of York Street, between Clarendon Street and Kings Way, for private investor Martin Strode.

Supreme deal

STAWELL Chambers, the free-standing, historic office that solicitor Isaac Brott occupied for years, has sold.

The building at 493-495 Little Bourke Street, opposite the southern boundary of the Supreme Court in Melbourne's legal precinct, is speculated to have traded for about

$4 million.

Days after an auction on March 25, a "sold" sticker appeared on a board outside the 121-year-old, four-level 650 sq m office, but Savills directors Nick Peden and Clinton Baxter declined to comment. The office space is being marketed for lease.

Join the club

RESIDENTIAL developers have bought a St Kilda nightclub on a 753 sq m block in busy Fitzroy Street.

The club, known to revellers as fully licensed, 24-hour entertainment venue Area 61, sold to the developers for $7.8 million.

It was marketed with a permit for a six-level, 27-unit complex, with 15 one-bedroom flats. But as is becoming the case in Melbourne, the new owner is reconfiguring the number of units within the approved shell.

The end value of a new development may be more than $80 million, according to sources, and shops are likely to occupy the ground floor.

Allard & Shelton director Joseph Walton sold the asset, which, as well as Area 61, includes two ground-floor shops. The nightclub's lease ends later this year.

Fitzroy Street, which connects St Kilda Junction to Cleve Gardens and the beach, has attracted high-density residential proposals recently, with two sites near the corner of Grey Street about to be redeveloped as prominent apartment complexes.

Go east, young man

AS THE nation begins a big public housing building program, the Department of Human Services is about to start work on a $70 million, 207-unit compound with six buildings in Melbourne's east. Read today's Domain for more information.

Also, read Sunday Domain tomorrow for details of the most ambitious proposal yet in Melbourne's west a?? a 24-level apartment complex in Footscray.

marcpallisco@gmail.com