Sale of Newspaper House makes news on Collins Street
Nick Lenaghan and Larry Schlesinger
One of Collins Street’s better-known historic buildings, Newspaper House, with its colourful 1930s mural, has changed hands for $35 million.
The owner of 247 Collins Street, Singapore-listed Lian Beng, bought the six-storey classic less than two years ago before getting busy leasing up what was then a vacant property.
The buyer is listed Malaysian conglomerate Oriental Holdings Berhad, which has other investments in the Melbourne market through its subsidiaries.
This latest deal was transacted on a 4.2 per cent yield.
Built in 1884, Newspaper House was purchased by newspaper baron Sir Keith Murdoch’s Herald and Weekly Times for £90,000 in 1932.
As the media empire’s home, it was given a facelift, with a new facade and a mural designed by neo-classical painter Napier Waller.
The dramatic mosaic and its symbolic imagery is topped with a quote from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “I’ll put a girdle round about the Earth,” an allusion to the growing power of modern communication and Sir Keith’s ambitions.
Behind that famous modernist facade is a more straightforward property story. After Lian Beng bought the sandstone building on a mid-city block for $22.7 million from horseracing identity Ken Biddick, it leased it up fully to tenants including Bupa and Discover English, and put it back on the market this year.
“The property was incredibly well received by both the local and offshore markets,” said CBRE’s Josh Rutman, who brokered the property with colleagues Kiran Pillai, Mark Wizel and Lewis Tong in conjunction with Knight Frank’s Paul Henley, Andrew Hansen and George Burberry.
Lian Beng was represented by Eu Ming Lim, of law firm Thomson Geer.
It is the latest in a run of strong commercial property deals along Melbourne’s most prestigious business boulevard, including the sale of 395 Collins Street to private investor Yong Quek last year and AMP Capital’s acquisition of 425 Collins Street.
Lian Beng is expected to remain active in the Melbourne market after buying out a strata-titled building at 50 Franklin Street for $51.5 million last year.
The Singaporean player has been fielding offers for 596 St Kilda Road after buying it for about $24 million two years ago, then winning approval for a Bates Smart-designed 19-level residential tower with 170 apartments.
