Swisse money swoops on Police Association's headquarters
The ex-wife of a Swisse Vitamins multi-millionaire has emerged as the buyer of a heritage red brick building in East Melbourne formerly owned by Victoria’s Police Association.
The 115-year-old building on the corner of 1 Clarendon Street, the Police Association’s headquarters for the last 21 years, is understood to have sold for more than the $22 million asking price.
Elizabeth Ring, the owner of a company at the centre of the transaction, placed a buyer’s caveat on the property, title documents show.
Ring, the former partner of Stephen Ring, a major shareholder of Swisse when it was taken over by Hong Kong listed Biostime for $1.67 billion in 2015, will take control of the rambling structure on a prime 2024-square-metre site next to Fitzroy Gardens, a stone’s throw from the CBD.
Camberwell-based Ring spent a record $14 million in March 2020 to snare a prime penthouse on Noosa’s beachfront.
The East Melbourne transaction was negotiated by Collier’s Oliver Hay, Matt Stagg, Daniel Wolman, Leon Ma and Peter Bremner.
The Police Association, represented by Relae Property’s Guy Ayres, will move out next year.
“This was the last undeveloped park-fronted property in East Melbourne over 2000 square metres in size. It’s a pretty special asset,” Hay said.
The heritage building covers about half of the site, leaving a substantial chunk of land that potentially can be developed, he said.
The East Melbourne deal follows another at 363 King Street in West Melbourne where an art deco three-level office sold through the same Colliers brokers to a Sydney-based buyer for $22.01 million.
The office, opposite Flagstaff Gardens, was offloaded by Brunei businessman King Chin Goh who purchased it for $18 million in 2018.
