Capital Gain
The Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda is getting a major revamp as leaseholder Australian Venue Co splurges millions on the Fitzroy Street pub, building a rooftop bar and reconfiguring the venue’s internal spaces.
It looks like a return to the good old grunge days of the 1990s, when patrons could move from the band room to its bars without leaving the premises. But this incarnation is likelier to be shinier.
The renovation comes as the Prince’s new freehold owner is revealed.
It is none other than Grant Cohen, one of the heirs to the Godfreys vacuum cleaner fortune who quietly bought the pub last year for $28.85 million.
Snaffling the pub at that price was quite a bargain for Cohen, whose family company paid $64 million for the thoroughly revamped Esplanade Hotel around the corner in late 2022.
But the vendor, Jackalope hotel owner Louis Li, was a keen seller. Li paid a bumper $45 million for the Prince in 2015. However, by 2024, he was in a mad rush to sell his property portfolio, including two Flinders Lane buildings later bought by restaurant tsar Chris Lucas.
The Cohens, who also own the Block Arcade in Melbourne’s CBD, are well known for looking after heritage properties.
AVC took over the lease in mid-2024 from Gerry Ryan’s Melbourne Pub Group. The property deal was done by Cushman & Wakefield’s Daniel Wolman, Oliver Hay and Leon Ma.
AVC, Australia’s second biggest pub operator, is no longer quite the homegrown hotel behemoth. Last year Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners bought a 45 per cent stake in the company and another 45 per cent stake is owned by Hong Kong-based fund PAG, which bought its share from private equity player KKR.
Other side of town
A new developer has moved into Toorak Village, snapping up 509 Toorak Road for $6.5 million, just months after paying $3.4 million for an ageing block of shops and offices next door at No. 513-515.
The buyer is Sivasli, a company which has built a score of small townhouse and childcare projects in the western suburbs and Geelong.
It’s not known if Sivasli owners Deniz and Gina Sivasli have long-term development plans for the 881-square-metre site or have just made a canny investment. They’ll be mixing it up with Toorak Village’s top-tier operators.
The two properties are next door to Bill McNee’s St Germain retail and commercial property, which hit the market last year with a $200 million price tag.
Across the road, Orchard Piper has just completed one luxury project and is about to start on a new one backed by James Packer’s NPACT. Nicole Chow’s UAG has a project under way around the corner on Wallace Avenue.
Gorman Kelly’s Nick Breheny and Robert Kelly handled the off-market purchase of the Westpac branch at No.509. Westpac, which owned the property until 2000, has a lease for another five years.
The building next door was offloaded by the wealthy Mandie family through Teska Carson.
Coastal tourism
A $400 million, 190-hectare sports tourism project spruiked for the Surf Coast region in the Otways hinterland has hit the market.
The first part of the five-stage CORA precinct is ready to go and includes luxury lodges and a tennis-coaching centre with 48 courts helmed by French tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
The project at 1300 Cape Otway Road was approved by the state government in October 2020 but the permit has since been extended for a start date in September 2027.
The precinct has been steered by architect Daryl Pelchen and Olivia Tipler, who bought the Modewarre farmland in 2003.
About 90 hectares is available for development, the 100-hectare balance being devoted to conservation. The property is north of Anglesea and a short drive from Winchelsea and Geelong.
All parties involved were a little vague on the likely sale price, which will depend on the type of buyer. The land is worth up to $30 million and the project has had about $17 million invested to date, so it looks like they’re chasing about $50 million.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Noral Wild and Gabe Lindquist have the listing.
Richmond moves
The year has kicked off with a bevy of projects ready to go after years of sitting stalled. In Richmond, near the corner of Swan and Church streets, Goldfields has won a permit for a $150 million 11-storey residential development, The Brightly, and has appointed Ironside to build it.
Goldfields is undertaking the 9-15 Brighton Street project with an unlisted Dexus fund which bought the 1500 sq m site, off Swan Street, in 2023 for $31.2 million.
Dexus originally had plans for an office project which were shelved. The site has now returned to the residential use planned by its previous owner, Little Projects.
The 100-unit project, designed by Cera Stribley, has gone big on the current wellness trend. It features a hot magnesium pool, steam room and sauna with a follow-up cold plunge pool.
Across the street, Fortis is going ahead with its first hotel, at the Richmond Square project.
The 4000 sq m hotel will have 57 rooms across two levels. Last year, Fortis topped out two residential buildings at the development with 108 apartments.
Office sale
Two office buildings on the high side of Camberwell Junction are up for sale with a freshly granted fast-track permit for a 14-storey mixed-use building.
The two buildings occupy a 1392 sq m site at 691-693 Burke Road, Camberwell. They’re next door to Dealcorp’s building at No. 695, which has been withdrawn from sale.
No. 691 changed hands last year for $6.2 million and its neighbour sold in 2024 for $8.1 million.
The new 10,000 sq m project has a permit for 57 apartments and two levels of office space and is expected to fetch in the $18-$20 million range.
Gorman Commercial’s Jonathon McCormack and Peter Bremner and Stonebridge’s Andrew Milligan and Julian White are running the campaign.
Across the road, 552a Burke Road also scored a fast-track permit from Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny.
Angle is planning an eight-storey 36-unit project on the site, which sits beside the historic St John’s Anglican Church.
Nine titles
A private investor who spent 40 years amassing a 6466 sq m development site in the heart of Blackburn has sold the landholding to a developer for $12 million.
The nine houses are on separate titles at 4-8a Chapel Street and 5-15 near Blackburn railway station. The sale price didn’t quite reach last year’s $15 million-plus price guide.
Stonebridge’s Julian White, Andrew Milligan and Chao Zhang handled the deal, along with Cushman & Wakefield’s Hamish Burgess, Joe Kairouz and Daniel Wolman.
The houses are likely to make way for a high-density project. The precinct between Whitehorse Road and the railway line has become increasingly built up as houses and showrooms are replaced by new offices and apartments.
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