Pink elephants on parade as Windsor Castle changes hands
Capital Gain
The bright-green Windsor Castle Hotel, famous for its pink elephants, has a new owner after its operator went bust just before Christmas.
The Ganely Group is understood to have splashed around $3 million on the hotel, which attracts a strong local crowd avoiding the Chapel Street crush.
Run by builder-turned-publican Liam Ganley, the hospo group now boasts five venues, including Fifth Province on Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, and the Bay Hotel in Mornington. While the Ganley Group is thriving, hotelier Tracy Lester ran into trouble last year, putting both the Windsor Castle and the CBD’s Carlton Club into administration.
The late hospitality entrepreneur Nick Fermanis, who died in 2015, paid $481,500 for the pub in 1998. The 550 square metre hotel is on a 512 sq m plot at 89 Albert Street and comes with a big beer garden. The deal was handled by Miglic Dean’s Richard Miglic and Katherine Dean.
Back on the market is the unloved John Barleycorn Hotel at 177-181 Johnston Street, Collingwood.
It’s the third time in as many years the pub, recently the Woodpackers hostel, has gone to market. It has a new price range: $3.3-3.6 million – well down on the $4-4.5 million its vendors were previously after.
It’s hard to believe some die-hard Magpies supporter hasn’t snapped it up. According to the Collingwood Football Club’s website, it’s the pub where George Langridge and a bevy of locals discussed the forming of a new football club in 1889.
Stonebridge agents Max Warren, Dylan Kilner and Chao Zhang have the listing.
Also on the market is The Hardiman Hotel at 521 Macaulay Road, Kensington. It has a fresh 10-year lease and returns $475,000 a year in income. JLL’s Will Connolly, Stuart Taylor and Tom Noon are running the campaign and expect more than $8.6 million for the pub.
Out of town, the Morwell Hotel, leased to the country’s biggest pub operator, ALH, is also up for sale.
ALH has a 25-year lease on the property with four 10-year options out to 2068 and pays $173,235 a year in rent. It has 14 gaming machines and is on a large 1.82 hectare piece of land at 311-327 Princes Drive.
It’s going to auction on March 26 as part of Burgess Rawson’s portfolio auction. Agents Raoul Holderhead and Romanor Falconer are taking enquiries with Stockdale & Leggo’s Jim Demetrios.
Build-to-rent tower
Lowy-family backed Assembly Funds Management is looking to off-load the build-to-rent tower in Parkville which it bought 2.5 years ago.
Assembly paid the Victoria government $65 million for the Evo apartment block in 2022 which looks like a savvy investment. JLL agents Josh Rutman and Jack Bergin have the listing and are expecting around $100 million.
Barely 10 years old, the building at 109 Manningham Street has already had a long history. It was built by Pace Development Group in 2014, but was purchased by the Napthine government for around $90 million because it stood next to a proposed off-ramp for the since-aborted East-West Link.
The Andrews government made a vain attempt to sell it in 2017 before the building was pulled from the market after it was found to be covered in flammable cladding.
New home
Furniture retailer Stylecraft has found a new CBD home after its showroom on Flinders Lane was sold to make was for a new Dior boutique.
Stylecraft is going into the ground and first floor of Riverlee’s office tower at 379 Collins Street. The retailer has taken a 12-year lease on the space where it will create a 1000 sq m showroom. It’s a big move, taking Stylecraft from the east end where it has traded for 20 years down to mid-town.
Stylecraft’s existing four-level building, at 145-149 Flinders Lane, was bought by LVMH, owner of French fashion house Christian Dior, for $39 million for the property in 2023. It’s across the road from Chanel’s multi-storey boutique, bought later the same year, for a staggering $75 million.
Stylecraft’s new showroom is on the corner of Queen Street. It’s sharing the location with Bang & Olufsen, which has also shifted to midtown from the east end.
Ainsworth Property’s Zelman Ainsworth did the deal. Stylecraft is making the move in spring.
Toorak Village
A former family office on Carters Avenue in Toorak Village has hit the market just as the $67 million sale of its neighbour across the street, the old Mercedes Benz car yard, settled.
The double-storey office building is on 400 sq m parcel of land at 20 Carters Avenue and comes with a redevelopment permit. The vendors, Toorak luxury home builder Craig Easton and Alla Geiro, wife of laser eye surgery pioneer Mark Medownick, bought the property in 2017 for $4 million.
Land rates in Toorak are fetching between $20,000-25,000 a sq m which should put its sale price at around $8-10 million.
Toorak Village has shrugged off its daggy image after Bill McNee’s St Germain building on Toorak Road transformed the strip. One of developer Orchard Piper’s luxury projects is under way while a second, a joint venture with James Packer’s NPACT on the car yard site, has just received approval.
CBRE agents David Minty, Nathan Mufale, Trent Hobart and Jing Jun Heng are handling the campaign, along with locals Kay & Burton’s Andrew Sahhar and Danielle Horne.
Bunnings shed
Newly established property player, the Kinglake Group, has made its biggest purchase to date, snapping up the Sunbury Showrooms.
Records show the investor paid $19.58 million for the former Bunnings shed, reflecting a 6 per cent yield. The 5554 sq m property at 85 Vineyard Road is fully leased to The Good Guys, Rep, Total Tools, Penstock and Worklocker.
Troon, a previous owner, converted the Bunnings shed in 2014 and sold it to an off-shore Chinese investor for $14.88 million in 2017.
Kinglake Group director Jamie Allen said it was the company’s third acquisition. The off-market deal was negotiated by Burgess Rawson’s Zomart He.
Post office auction
Eight bidders competed for the Glenroy Post Office last week, making 128 bids in 30 minutes, pushing the price up to $3 million.
A local owner-occupier came out ahead, paying 36 per cent above the $2.2 million reserve to the vendor, Australia Post. The vacant 448 sq m property is on a 978 sq m of land at 9-11 Post Office Place. Colliers Travis Keenan and James Bui, managed the auction.
Eight bidders also slugged it out at 272 Smith Street, Collingwood, where a chemist and medical centre sold under the hammer for $2.88 million – $288,000 above the reserve – reflecting a tight yield of 4.1 per cent.
The 581 sq m double-storey shop is on a 289 sq m piece of land. The lease expires in four years.Records show the property last changed hands in 1992 for $505,000.
The auction was handled by Stonebridge’s Nic Hage, Rorey James and Ian Lam.
