MAB plan to develop big Cranbourne site

It's believed that MAB, formed by brothers Michael and Andrew Buxton in 1996, will rebuild the 21.8-hectare Cranbourne West site at 940 Thompsons Road as a business park to capitalise on demand that will ensue from state government plans to expand the port of Hastings, 30 kilometres south.

The hospital is at the north-west tip of an unbuilt portion of Cranbourne West bound by Western Port Highway, Thompsons and Evans roads, and a proposed street that would connect Wedge Road at Sandhurst to Camms Road, and on to Cranbourne East.

The Western Port Highway is mooted to become six lanes as part of plans to make Hastings Victoria's newest container port.

Other suburbs between Cranbourne West and Hastings including Pearcedale, Langwarrin, Somerville and Tyabb are expected to benefit from commercial and industrial development, as a consequence of Hastings port expansion plans.

Hastings has been identified as a potential big port because large ships can dock without passing through "the Rip" the treacherous narrow entrance to Port Phillip Bay from Bass Strait.

Transport costs for some companies may also be lower as Hastings is near densely populated south-eastern suburbs, and industry.

But any expansion of the Hastings port would mean more frequent use of the western passage by large ships.

This could raise environmentalists' concerns about a risk to wildlife including a penguin colony, and associated tourist attractions at Summerlands.

A MAB representative was unavailable for comment. The exact price paid for the site is not yet known.

MAB develops high and low-density residential and commercial projects. Its other industrial developments in Melbourne include the Meridian in Thomastown and the Orbis in Ravenhall. The $1 billion University Hill redevelopment in Bundoora also includes a commercial component.

Over the long term, it is expected that MAB will subdivide and sell some of the Cranbourne West land to developers, owner-occupiers or investors, but may also develop and retain major office-warehouse assets.

The equine facility isn't the first of its kind to sell recently. In late 2006, Australand paid $22 million for the Melbourne School of Pony Equitation site, abutting EastLink, at Keysborough. That site is also set to be replaced with a business and industrial park.

Sale stamped out

AUSTRALIA Post has withdrawn from the market a prominent 1.2-hectare site near Southern Cross station after its discounted price expectations were not met.

The former Australia Post Mail Centre at the south-west corner of Spencer and La Trobe streets, opposite the Melbourne Assessment Prison, has been a much-anticipated development site since the 1990s, and when the redevelopment potential of neighbouring Docklands began to be realised.

Initial price expectations of up to $45 million were quickly discounted to about $38 million to $40 million, sources say, but even with that markdown not much interest was sparked.

Australia Post has no use for the site, so it is expected to be put back on the market some time over the next five years, when things are more buoyant, sources say. It may be leased in the meantime.

National Australia bank former managing director Ahmed Fahour heads Australia Post.

He recently announced Australia Post faced its "biggest challenge in 200 years" and delivered results showing a 73 per cent dip in profit to $103 million, from $380 million last year.

CB Richard Ellis directors Mark Wizel and Mark Costa represented Australia Post.

Loss on the way

SYDNEY-BASED developer Lend Lease, and the Australian Prime Property Fund, which it controls, are bracing for a financial loss, onselling a big shopping centre it bought towards the peak of the last property boom.

Lend Lease has quietly listed its 27-year-old Pakenham Place complex in Pakenham, which it bought in late 2006 for $60.5 million. It is expected to sell for about $45 million this time, sources say.

The centre includes 15,847 square metres of retail space, and is on a 5.7-hectare block with redevelopment potential. It returns about $3.5 million in annual rent.

Pakenham is within the Shire of Cardinia, where the population has surged in recent years.

Earlier this year, the Pakenham Racecourse site sold to residential developers for $38 million. Another site on the market, in nearby Officer, is expected to fetch $30 million.

The Pakenham Place campaign is being managed by Colliers International's Lachlan MacGillivray and Heath Crampton and Stonebridge Property Group's Jonathan Fox and Philip Gartland.

Site sells for $6m

THE long-time owners of a small office building, on 1019 square metres near South Melbourne Market, are $6 million richer after an auction

yesterday.

The 274-278 Coventry Street site sold to a residential developer, after a campaign managed by Savills directors Clinton Baxter and Nick Peden.

The site is near the headquarters of Mitchell Communication Group, which some thought might have thrown its hat in the ring at the auction.

The new owner is expected to redevelop the site in the next two to three years.

Savills said the sale price of $5900 a square metre was a record for South Melbourne land.

All up, 81 bids were made at the auction.

$30m expected

CENTURIA the new name for the fund manager known for years as the Over 50s Friendly Society has quietly listed another commercial office building for sale.

Centuria bought the 11-storey building at 601 Bourke Street, on the south-east corner of King Street, for $23.95 million seven years ago.

Built in 1975, the 7945-square-metre office, on a 901 sq m block, was formerly known as Forestry House. Sources speculate it will sell for about $30 million.

The eventual new owner will have an an option to buy the neighbouring 140 King Street office. This would allow the combined site to be redeveloped as a major office or residential tower. Centuria bought 601 Bourke Street from the Riverside Group of Companies, directed by Clement Lee, which undertook a big renovation nearly 10 years ago. Jones Lang LaSalle's Robert Anderson and James Kaufman, with CBRE's Mark Costa and Martin O'Sullivan, are the marketing agents.

In April, Centuria sold an office at 17 Market Street, South Melbourne, for $8.95 million. It paid $6.7 million for that asset in 2002.

In March last year, the company sold a dank mission-brown office at 35 Spring Street with plans, but not a permit, for a 39-level, 165-unit apartment tower.

Centuria paid $35.4 million for the building in late 2002, onselling it to CBus for $45.5 million last July.

Retiring types

A MAJOR retirement village in Mildura, near the New South Wales-Victoria border, is for sale.

On 6.4 hectares, The Vines Retirement Village is about 10 years old, and includes 119 independent living units and a community centre.

All the dwellings are occupied and the village derives an income from deferred management fees. Knight Frank's Michael Hede and Leigh Morris are

marketing the complex, which is expected to sell for about $6 million.

marcpallisco@gmail.com