Pre-gold rush building in Melbourne CBD sells for $7.9 million
A historic building that was one of Melbourne CBD’s oldest hotels has sold for $7.9 million – $1.4 million more than its reserve.
Lead agent Oliver Hay of Colliers International declined to name the buyer of Tavistock House, at 383 Flinders Lane – one of five bidders on the day in a crowd of 200 – only saying that they planned to treat the purchase as a “strategic buy and hold”.
However, industry sources have revealed that super fund MTAA Super was the buyer.
The property netted long-term owner, celebrated angler Jim Allen, a handsome profit, having acquired the site in 1993 for just $600,000.
It is currently home to the Compleat Angler and the Flyfisher, two retail outlets founded and subsequently sold by Mr Allen.
The Heritage Council of Victoria described Tavistock House as “historically significant, as one of the State’s earliest surviving hotel sites and retains in small part, the earliest surviving hotel structure in the city”. It also said it was, in part, “among a very small group of pre-gold rush buildings in the city”.
Tavistock House was built as a hotel in about 1850, with renovations and extensions in the nineteenth century and further renovations in 1906.
At different stages of its history as a hotel it has been called the Donnybrook Inn, the Ship Inn, the Norfolk Hotel and the Tavistock Hotel, before being converted into shops and offices in 1906, and then reverting to the name Tavistock House when the publican’s licence was surrendered in 1914.
In 1947 the building was acquired as a recreation centre for the Royal Australian Navy.
Tavistock House occupies a prime corner site on bustling Flinders Lane. Photo: Supplied
The result follows what Colliers International’s Melbourne city sales team’s Daniel Wolman described as an “auction frenzy”.
“We’ve had some outstanding results coming in at auction as vendors are taking advantage of the hot market,” he said.
In particular, lunchtime auctions on October 14 saw a record result for North Melbourne warehouses, Mr Wolman said.
One of them, 2 Lothian Street, North Melbourne, was knocked down for $2.39 million, $890,000 above reserve, while 130 Dryburgh Street went for $1.967,000, $367,000 above reserve.
Mr Wolman said the recent results were reflective of private vendors realising the opportunities available in the current market.
“The majority of these assets have been held for generations,” Mr Hay said.
“More and more vendors are realising that now’s a good time to move. Previously they might have been questioning why they would sell, what they would do with the money. Now they’re seeing these huge results and wanting to capitalise on the climate.”
