Christian Dior eyes new flagship CBD store after purchase

Records show the Luxembourg-based company paid $39 million for 145-149 Flinders Lane, on the corner of Russell Street.

The five-level Beaux Arts-style building, which is opposite Chanel’s boutique at 140 Flinders Lane, is understood to be earmarked for Dior. The luxury fashion house already has a store at the foot of the Westin Melbourne at 205 Collins Street but is moving house to the newly acquired building, according to sources who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely.

A move would enable Dior to expand over multi-levels.

LVMH is majority owned by Bernard Arnault and his family who have a fortune of US$216 billion ($336 billion), according to Forbes magazine and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The sale of 145-149 Flinders is a windfall for its former owners – Perth-based investors Adrian Fini and the Jones and Mack families. It last changed hands in 2010 for about $7.5 million.

The off-market deal is believed to have been worked on by Cushman & Wakefield agents Daniel Wolman and Oliver Hay, who declined to comment.

The process is understood to have started during 2022 and followed the $65 million sale of the Louis Vuitton building, at 139 Collins Street, to Singaporean investor and watch retailer The Hour Glass.

Wolman and Hay, along with Leon Ma and George Davies, have also sold 12-18 Meyers Place to Sydney hospitality entrepreneur Justin Hemmes.

Records show Hemmes has placed a caveat over the modernist warehouse, which houses Argentinian steak house San Telmo.

The building, which is on a 603 sq m parcel of land, last sold in 1993, in the depths of the recession, for $910,000. This year’s price is believed to be more than $16 million.

After a quiet start to the year, the CBD commercial property market is springing to life.

Property agents say buyers and sellers have been “sitting on their hands”, waiting to see what would happen to valuations, following interest rate rises and falling office prices.

However, the first CBD freehold auction for the year on Friday signalled better things to come.

Seven parties bid furiously for 144-148 A’Beckett Street, making around 150 bids before the hammer dropped at $11.85 million – a whopping 42 per cent above its reserve. It was a stellar result and a strong endorsement of the CBD market.

The vacant four-storey building, on the corner of Anthony Street, is on a 288 sq m block, giving the deal a land value of $41,145 a sq m.

The buyer, who held a phone in one hand and a toddler in the other, is planning to use the 1187 sq m building for education purposes.

The vendor, a deceased estate, bought the property in 1991, paying $785,000 as that decade’s bitter recession kicked in. The Queen Victoria Market precinct of the city has been transformed since then.

A forest of towers has replaced many of the low-rise pubs, offices and warehouses.

Last month, Lendlease unveiled plans for a $1.7 billion residential development around the corner at the Franklin Street end of the market’s car park.

Next up to test the market is Melbourne House at 360 Little Bourke Street, which has been put up for sale by Singapore developer Roxy-Pacific.

The six-level building, previously owned by legal education provider the Leo Cussen Institute, is expected to sell for more than $30 million. It last changes hands for $33 million in 2017.

Roxy-Pacific had a permit for a 300-room hotel for the site but, in 2021, ruled out a full demolition and revamped its plans. The 4504 sq m building is on a 937 sq m site.