Moose Toys boss Paul Solomon buys Beller House in Balaclava for more than $22 million
Moose Toys’ co-chief executive Paul Solomon has bought the well-known commercial building Beller House in Melbourne’s inner suburb of Balaclava for $22.25 million.
Also known as Carlisle Corner, 281A-289 Carlisle Street sold on a yield of less than 4 per cent, and fetched almost $4 million more than its previous sale price of $18.5 million in late 2015. The site sold for a land rate of more than $8000 a square metre.
Industry sources say that Mr Solomon is buying the block for long-term land-banking.
The Melbourne businessman, who is the stepson of Moose Toys chairman and billionaire Manny Stul, has been on a real estate shopping spree in recent months, reportedly splashing $23.75 million on beachfront resort Nobbys Outlook in the Gold Coast’s Miami in September 2017.
The Balaclava property is part of the main retail strip in the inner-south suburb, which is in the heart of Melbourne’s Jewish community.
Moose Toys boss Paul Solomon has snapped up Beller House in Balaclava. Photo: Josh Robenstone
The 3132-square-metre building, with 44 car parking spaces, is spread across 2720 square metres on a site zoned Commercial 1, which allows businesses including accommodation, child care centres and offices to operate on the site.
Built in 1973, the corner block has 18 tenancies, including a gym, medical centres and a restaurant, which contribute to an annual rental income of about $1.09 million.
CBRE’s national director Mark Wizel, who sold the site with Rorey James and Nathan Mufale in conjunction with Gross Waddell’s Michael Gross and Benjamin Klein, confirmed the sale but declined to comment.
Market sources say the agents were expecting “well above $20 million”.
The Elsternwick property sold for $9.2 million under the hammer. Photo: Supplied
Underdeveloped assets in suburban areas are considered to be hot property for both land-bankers and developers, who are willing to accept increasingly tight yields for substantial landholdings.
A Bentleigh property, which has been held for 30 years as a non-business asset by property developer family the Pellicanos, has just hit the market for more than $8 million.
The 1564-squre-metre, two-storey commercial building has a permit for 52 apartments spread across seven levels.
And in nearby Elsternwick, a 112-year-old corner building with three street frontages was snapped up for $9.2 million on a 3.7-per-cent yield at auction in early May. That was tipped to sell for more than $7 million.
A few suburbs away in Camberwell, a 4433-square-metre site with four unit blocks and a Californian bungalow is being listed for the first time in more than 50 years and is expected to fetch more than $12.5 million.
