Botanicca buildings hit the market for about $120m

They are the first of the new tranche of fringe and suburban office buildings constructed in the past 10 years to come up for sale in the new era of rising vacancy and worker wariness. Vacancy rates in Melbourne offices increased slightly to 12.9 per cent in the latest survey by the Property Council of Australia.

Building 9 has 6960 square metres over five levels and returns around $3.9 million a year from tenants including Fujifilm and Servier Pharmaceuticals.

Multinational tenants Golder Associates and Fulton Hogan are among the tenants in its neighbour, Building 7. The 6587 sq m six-level property returns about $3.3 million a year.

Garda Property group managing director Matthew Madsen said the developer will be putting the money into its 160,000 sq m industrial pipeline in Brisbane.

Industrial has outperformed office during the pandemic mostly because of internet shopping and an urgent need to stock more goods for sale in Australia. The old “just-in-time” delivery model hasn’t held up well.

CBRE agents Scott Orchard and Tom Ryan, with Dawkins Occhiuto’s Andrew Dawkins and Tim Grant, are managing the expressions of interest campaign.

There’s a fair bit going on down that end of town. Charter Hall is developing a new $410 million headquarters for Australia Post at 480 Swan Street and next door at No.484-488, the Agosta family’s Bamfa Properties has announced plans for a $350 million 14 storey tower – no tenant at this stage.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs, Vantage Property Investments is selling a refurbished office building at 697 Burke Road, Camberwell.

Vantage has owned and managed the six-level 2791 sq m property since 1999. It has carparking for 50 cars and returns more than $1.24 million a year in rent.

CBRE agents Tom Ryan and Scott Orchard are handling the deal and expecting around $20 million.

NAB branch

The NAB branch on the corner of Toorak Road and Chapel Street, occupied by the bank since 1951, is back on the market.

The flagship South Yarra branch, on one of the city’s busiest intersections, last changed hands in 2013 for $12.82 million.

The bank has just started a new five-year term following a swanky $1.5 million refurbishment. There aren’t too many suburban bank branches getting that treatment.

Swags of bank branches have traded recently, but they were mostly vacant.

Colliers agents Matt Stagg, Tim McIntosh, Daniel Wolman and Leon Ma are handling the sale and expect more than $15 million.

Savers site

The Greensborough Savers freehold is back on the market, just a few years after US private equity giant Blackstone, which owns the nearby Plaza, sold it to a local developer.

But the site has grown, both in size and expected price. The property next door at 96 Main road has been added to the Savers site at No.106-126.

They’re expected to fetch between $38-$40 million in the current market.

Records show vendors Ange Angelo and Frank Ktenas paid $5.6 million for No.96 last September and bought the Blackstone site for $10.9 million in 2019. That’s a tidy profit.

Colliers agents Andrew Ryan, Joe Kairouz and Hamish Burgess are running an expression of interest campaign that closes on September 14.

Other tenants include a Coles’ First Choice bottle shop and the Equilibrium Gym. The 7326 sq m site is on the corner of Para Road and was the home of the last Blockbuster video store in Victoria until 2018.

Burgundy strip

An investor beat developers to purchase a tired two-storey retail and office building at 69-75 Burgundy Street, opposite Warringal Shopping Centre.

The property is understood to have fetched $5.5 million, giving it a tight passing yield of 2.99 per cent.

CBRE agents Alex Brierly, Nathan Mufale, David Minty and JJ Heng handled the sale which yielded five offers.

The 658 sq m building is on a 611 sq m site with eight car parks. It’s leased to three tenants, including the Tarin Thai restaurant on the ground floor.

The tightly held Burgundy Street strip, down the hill from the Austin and Mercy Hospitals complex, attracts plenty of medically-focused office tenants.

Last year Charter Hall paid around $38 million for a two-storey 3549 sqm office at 456 Lower Heidelberg Road. It’s leased to Healius which provides services to nearby laboratories.

Nearby, Burgundy Plaza sold for $14.39 million to a Chinese developer in 2017.

Lorne beach

Sydney buyers strike again on the Great Ocean Road. The Lorne Beach Apartments have sold for $8.3 million to investors from Sydney who are travelling a long way from home to find beachfront assets.

The building at 106-112A Mountjoy Parade attracted 11 offers. It has six apartments and five shops and sold on a 4.01 percent yield. The property is on a 1341 sq m site and returns $354,678 a year in income.

JLL’s Nick MacFie, who handled the transaction with Josh Rutman and Minxuan Li, said the property fetched $2 million more than expected with buyers looking for passive investments and potential future upside.

More than $100 million worth of property has changed hands on the world-famous road in the past year with Sydney buyers dominating.

Ownership of the Wye Beach Hotel, the Lorne Hotel and the Collendina Holiday Camp have all transferred north in that time.

Lune outlet

The new Lune outlet in Armadale has been snapped up off-market just as the patisserie opened its doors to queues of shoppers keen to buy perfectly made croissants.

The ground-floor strata shop at 835 High Street is at the foot of a newly completed apartment building developed by Moda.

The 111 sq m shop sold for $1.98 million on a tight 3.88 per cent yield. That’s a building rate of just under $18,000 a sq m, a record for strata retail.

The transaction was negotiated by Colliers agents Ben Baines, Raphael Favas and Ted Dwyer.