Northcote gateway site poised for redevelopment

The sprawling two-storey office building at 48 High Street sits on a 1027 sq m site at the entrance to the Westgarth shopping strip, a quaint little patch featuring the Westgarth Cinema and the Terra Madre organic shopping emporium. The railway station, tram and bus stops are metres away.

Wilbow Group’s Jim Dolkas said no decision has been made about its future use.

“It’s a cracking site,” Mr Dolkas told Capital Gain.

Kelly & Kelly Property agent Anthony Kelly, who handled the transaction, said most of the interest in the property came from developers.

“There was some vacancy on the first floor but I thought it still had some future as an office,” he said.

Veteran developer Bill Bowness established Wilbow in 1976 but the business was bought by listed property company FKP in 2006. The current private incarnation is primarily focused on US investments but undertakes some residential and commercial property development.

Office goes

The future for office isn’t so bright. Geelong developer Franze has dumped its planned CBD commercial building for more desirable apartments.

Franz??’s Geelong Quarter development involves a 180-room Holiday Inn hotel with 16 private suites at the top – they’re 80 per cent sold.

A second building with 7400 sq m of office space had been planned but a series of factors, including the pandemic has triggered a redesign to 109 apartments and 380 sq m of retail.

Paul Franze said there was interest from government and local businesses but office was an expensive venture without a pre-commitment, especially as COVID-19 has unsettled the sector and residential demand was strong.

Geelong’s CBD is home to several new office buildings, including WorkSafe and the Australian Tax Office which this week reversed its plans to quit the regional city.

Pat Burke from MP Burke Commercial Real Estate has also negotiated a 10 year lease to Findex Geelong at Costa Asset Management’s 235 Ryrie Street.

Findex has leased a 1015-square-metre whole floor of the building.

Dorset Lodge

Aged care chain Menarock is offloading Dorset Lodge, a facility it owns but does not operate in Croydon.

The 45-bed Dorset Lodge at 362-366 Dorset Road was built in 2000 and sits on a 3530 sq m parcel of land close to the new Bowens hardware store and the Dorset Gardens Hotel.

It returns $387,000 a year in rent and the operators have recently exercised a five-year option on the property.

Menarock runs 11 aged care facilities in Victoria. Residents in its Essendon and Highett facilities have suffered greatly during the pandemic.

CBRE agents Marcello Caspani-Muto, who is handling expressions of interest with Jimmy Tat, Sandro Peluso and Josh Twelftree, declined to comment on the vendor’s identity, which was revealed by the land register.

Demand for aged care assets is strong as investors are shying away from retail and office, Mr Caspani-Muto said.

“Yields have come down from 7-8 per cent to around 5.5 per cent last year for a facility in Boronia and there’s no land tax on these properties,” he said.

The shorter lease time will however, slightly lower the price for Dorset Lodge to around 6 per cent, he said, which indicates a price of more than $6 million.

Also in the east at 230 Mountain Highway, Wantirna South, the CBRE healthcare team sold an audiology clinic to an investor for $4.319 million at a tight 4.6 per cent yield.

Built in 1998, the clinic sits on a 2093 sq m landholding next to Knox Private Hospital.

It was sold with a new 10-year leaseback to the owner and tenant of 33 years, Knox Audiology ENT and Specialist Suites, controlled by Guy and Helen Campbell.

Post office

The Royal Parade post office in Parkville has a new address for the first time since 1889.

Australia Post is moving a few doors up the road to the old 7-Eleven shop at 55 Royal Parade following the recent sale of the historic post office.

Fitzroys agents Mark Talbot and Lewis Waddell negotiated the ten-year leasing deal on the 108-square-metre shop at a rate of $400 a square metre net.