Dexus takes a haircut, sells Fishermans Bend site for half listing price

The property at 277-281 Ingles Street ended up on the Dexus balance sheet in 2021 as part of the company’s $320 million takeover of listed property company APN.

Transaction records show Ali settled on the site in October. It was originally part of Toyota’s car manufacturing operations in Port Melbourne and was acquired by developer MAB in 2005 for $8.82 million.

Dawkins Occhiuto agents Walter Occhiuto and Andrew Dawkins, along with Colliers agents Trent Hobart, Robert Papaleo and Jozef Dickinson, handled the deal. They all declined to comment.

Planning always seems to be fraught at Fishermans Bend. The latest out of the Port Melbourne renewal precinct is a state government proposal to charge developers up to $35,000 per unit to fund infrastructure and flood mitigation works, despite a failure to build a promised tram line through the suburb.

The result is not expected to generally savage Fishermans Bend values. Just before Christmas, the City of Port Phillip paid $38.8 million for Australia Post’s Port Melbourne Business Centre. The 1500 square metre site will be razed and converted to parkland.

Meanwhile, Ali has relisted his Canterbury mansion and an adjoining property for just under $50 million. The 19th century gold rush era mansion, Shrublands, and its neighbour Enniskillen, are on 10,000 square metres on Balwyn Road. It’s the third time in 18 months that Ali has tried to sell Shrublands.

Ali, who founded FBA Imports in 1990, was a prominent and successful trader of development sites on the Gold Coast in the past 10 years.

REIV moves

Property agents’ peak body, the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, has bought a new office, spending around $10 million on the former Centrelink office in Abbotsford.

The 1658 square metre office at 617 Victoria Street, offloaded by property developer Salta, is near Salta and Vicinity’s Victoria Gardens shopping centre near the Yarra River.

Salta has built hundreds of apartments and more than 35,000 square metres of office space in the North Richmond precinct.

The REIV had worked out of a Camberwell Junction office for more than 40 years. It sold its building at 335 Camberwell Road late last year to property developer Angle for about $26 million.

The deal was negotiated by Allard Shelton agent Joseph Walton and Gorman Commercial’s Peter Bremner. Both the REIV and the agents declined to comment on the price.

The office comes with 52 carparks and the opportunity to ensure the REIV’s technology is up-to-date.

“We will also ensure REIV’s new home is equipped with cutting-edge technology, so we can improve our communication and engagement with all our stakeholders,” REIV president Jacob Caine said.

Shopkins shifts

Moose Toys’ original headquarters in East Bentleigh is up for sale, 10 years after it moved head office operations to a tree-house dominated office in Cheltenham.

Records show Moose’s owners, Manny Stul and Paul Solomon, bought the 7-13 Ardena Court property in 2008, paying $3.1 million.

The manufacturer of the wildly popular Shopkins figurines and a slew of other toys moved to Cheltenham, opposite Moorabbin Airport, in 2012.

The old digs include a 3537 square metre warehouse-office and a 718 square metre showroom on a 4051 square metre site.

Teska Carson’s Michael Taylor and Matthew Feld are marketing the property with Cameron’s David Johnson and Michael Brennan.

The vacant property, located off East Boundary Road, is expected to fetch more than $7.5 million.

Meanwhile, a Mulgrave property occupied by Telstra subsidiary MTData is being offloaded by the former owners of the GPS and fleet technology business.

Built by Mirvac in 2009, the three-level office at 18-20 Compark Circuit is on a large 8472 square metre site.

MT Data leases two-thirds of the 3484 square metre office and the top floor is vacant. The property was bought new in 2010 for $4.6 million.

JLL agents Tim Carr, Mark Stafford and MingXuan Li are handling the campaign and expecting about $12 million.

Arden precinct

Redevelopment plans for the Arden precinct in North Melbourne are yielding fresh development sites. The latest is a 1447 square metre site, on three titles, opposite the soon-to-be demolished Lost Dogs’ Home in North Melbourne.

A portion of the site, at 11-19 Gracie Street, is also owned by the Lost Dogs’ Home, which is currently searching for a new home. Its larger premises at 2-52 Gracie Street is to be compulsorily acquired by the state government, but the transaction has not yet been settled.

Records show the properties at No.11-19 were purchased between 2002 and 2007 for a total $1.53 million.

CBRE’s Scott Hawthorne, David Minty, Nathan Mufale and JJ Heng are quoting $10 million-plus for the property.

Closer to the CBD, in the heart of the bustling Parkville medical precinct, is a 7-Eleven servo at 39-45 Flemington Road which is expected to sell for around $15 million.

The 1003 square metre site on the corner of Wreckyn Street last changed hands in 1997 for $560,000.

The campaign closes this Thursday. JLL’s Stuart Taylor, Jesse Radisich. MingXuan Li and Jarrod Herscu are handling enquiries, along with Cushman & Wakefield’s Oliver Hay, Daniel Wolman, Leon Ma and Alexander Leggo.

Around the corner from the new Parkville station, the mixed-use site allows for a 22-level tower.

Just down the road, off Peel Street, a four-level office building at 182 Capel Street, originally developed for Qantas in 1985, is also for sale.

Records show the 1865 square metre building was purchased in 2002 by the principals behind FMSA Architecture – now Foreground Architecture – for $1.75 million.

It’s carrying expectations of around $8 million. Cushman & Wakefield’s Leggo, Anthony Kirwan, Wolman and Eva Ni are running the campaign.

Levels one and two are vacant, but the ground floor is leased by the Australian National College giving the property a 9B education permit. It returns $190,506 a year in rent.