Shesh Ghale shifts horizons to office for market site
Nepal-born rich-lister Shesh Ghale stands on the corner of Latrobe and Elizabeth streets, outside the Argus Centre, headquarters for the Melbourne Institute of Technology, and counts the pedestrians crossing the busy intersection.
“This is more vibrant than Collins Street,” Mr Ghale declares. “It’s busy seven days a week because of the people living in the apartments in this area. People make streets vibrant.
“This area is really thriving and the new State Library station will bring even more people.”
Mr Ghale spent $60 million refurbishing the decrepit Argus Centre, the former newspaper office which now houses his education business with its more than 2000 students and teachers.
The revival of the northern precinct, driven by apartment towers, universities and student accommodation, is intense and now attracting big name retailers squeezed out of Swanston Street by the Melbourne Metro construction works.
Hungry Jack’s is about to move its flagship CBD store to the building across the road, competing with hundreds of small and large Asian restaurants on the Elizabeth Street strip.
However, despite his enthusiasm for repopulating the CBD, Mr Ghale is dropping plans for apartments at his flagship project opposite the Flagstaff Gardens and the Victoria Market.
He is proposing to replace the apartment component of the mixed-use project on the old Mazda showroom, at 386-412 William Street, with 20,000-25,000 square metres of office space.
He gained approval in 2015 for a $450 million twin tower project with 470 apartments and 210 hotel rooms on the 4000 square metre site.
The four-to-five star hotel is staying but the timing is wrong for apartments, where investment sales have slumped following a range of state and federal government taxation measures.
“It’s on one acre [4000 square metre]. That’s the only remaining large site in the Melbourne CBD,” he said. “We can build large office plates on the site.”
Adding office workers and more hotel rooms will add diversity to an area now dominated by apartments.
“We need the mix. That mix is important to the area’s success,” he said.
While he has been focused on the northern corner of the city, Mr Ghale is turning his attention to its south-west tip – the corner of Spencer and Flinder streets.
He is about to embark on a heritage and feasibility study to determine what can be done with the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel which he bought last year for $27.1 million.
The current four-storey art nouveau building dates to 1913 but there has been a hotel on the 883 square metre site since the mid-19th century. The current All Nations backpackers business has a lease until 2020.
As it stands, a four-star hotel with at least 150 keys is planned but the feasability study will indicate if something bigger can be attemped.
His experience refurbishing the crumbling Argus centre gives him confidence he can replicate the success at the south-west corner of the Hoddle grid.
“I like the corner. It’s close to the exhibition buildings and Crown Casino. It’s one of the busiest corners in Melbourne.”
Mr Ghale, and his wife Jamuna Gurung, who runs the MIT education business, are big fans of Melbourne’s colonial architecture and own several buildings around the city.
He regrets selling the Thomasetti building in 2014. The historic eight-storey building at 277-279 Flinders Lane sold for $16.2 million just eight days after going on the market.
“I got worried about debt levels and sold it but every time I walk past it, I’m sorry.
“These buildings have history and character. We have to preserve them. I’m sure they will increase their value because of the scarcity,” he said.
