Peregrine swoops on Collingwood

He was rebuffed by the owner at the time but successful when the property finally came on the market.

Mr Chahin refused to confirm how much he paid for the Commercial 2 zoned site but at current rates it is likely to have cost about $27 million.

Market sources say Collingwood and Abbotsford development sites are selling for between $8000 and $10,000 a square metre, depending on location and size.

His plans for the new Langridge Street site, which is zoned Commercial 2 and has three street frontages, include keeping the 1920s warehouse but developing the carpark next door.

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“We’re exploring a lot of options,” he said. The leased property, marketed by Vision Real Estate, will return $379,000 until April 2019.

Mr Chahin’s property career started in Collingwood. Over a 10-year period from the mid-90s – when drug users and drunks dominated Smith Street – he amassed a portfolio of 15 shops on the strip.

“People said I was crazy. The first one I bought was the Commonwealth Bank on the corner of Condell Street. I paid $1.65 million and sold in for $7.1 million in 2015,” he said.

He started selling in 2012 when Smith Street’s gentrification was well underway.

Collingwood’s former industrial heartland has been transformed by apartment buildings over the past five years and now office towers are starting to rise.

Grocon is building a $120 million 13-storey tower nearby on Northumberland Street, anchored by Aesop and co-working group The Commons and Cbus is building a $130 million apartment tower on the site once occupied by Morry Schwartz’s Black Inc publishing business.

Teska Carson agent Michael Taylor, who is selling a large former NAB bank building at 261 Victoria Street, Abbotsford, said prices increased about 40 per cent over the past six years.

“Developers are buying speculatively in anticipation of zoning changes in the future. There’s interest where it’s still Commercial 2 but we all know the shift is heading towards residential,” Mr Taylor said.

The next round of value-hunters are starting to look at Victoria Street Abbotsford, despite its stresses, because it borders the trendier Richmond.

On the corner of Nicholson Street, the Andrianopoulos family is selling a cleared 1312 square metre island site, a former petrol station, at 329-341 Victoria Street.

CBRE agent Nick Lower said the property has a permit for 64 apartments and six ground floor shops. At current market rates of $8000-$10,000 a square metre, the property is likely to fetch about $10 million.

Collingwood has several development sites on the market, including a warehouse at 128-144 Wellington Street, on the corner of Gipps Street. The 4287 square metre property is leased until the end of December 2019 and returns $380,423 a year in rent. Agents Real Property are marketing an expressions of interest campaign and expect it to sell in the high $30 millions.

One of Collingwood’s typical two-storey red-brick warehouses is also on the market. On a corner 1781 square metre site at 7 Stanley Street, the property currently returns $280,472 a year in rent. Colliers International is handling the sale.