Capital Gain
The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne has quietly offloaded another handful of terraces on Albert Street, opposite the St Patrick’s Cathedral complex in East Melbourne.
The church has now sold almost a whole row of properties lining the block between Lansdowne Street and Morrison Place for a price approaching the mid-$30 million mark.
James Goold House, an eight-storey office tower at 224-230 Victoria Parade, is next on the church’s chopping block with a price tag in the mid-$20 million range. Last year, Rino Grollo’s Australian Alpine Institute paid $10.45 million for a mansion at 384-388 Albert Street which will house the Buller Ski Lifts Group.
But a fresh look at the street’s property records show the Grollos also bought the adjoining terrace at 390 Albert Street, paying $2.53 million in May.
The archdiocese also recently sold the neighbouring terraces – banking $2.58 million for No.396; $2.7 million for No.398 and a similar price for No.40.
In February, another row of terraces on the strip at 402-408 Albert Street sold to a company controlled by 7-Eleven heiress Deborah Barlow for a total $11.36 million.
Stonebridge’s Julian White, Max Warren, Dylan Kilner and Chao Zhang handled the complex series of transactions, under instruction from Charter Keck Cramer’s Jessica Crossland and Tom Byrnes.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Oliver Hay, Daniel Wolman and Leon Ma are running the James Goold House campaign, advised by Charter Keck Cramer’s Jessica Crossland and Conor Sargent.
The building, around the corner on Victoria Parade, has been occupied by the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools’ head office. Records show it was bought from a Malaysian-based vendor in 1996 for $4.5 million.
Signs of life
Last week, six bidders competed for the Peugeot car yard in Balwyn pushing its sale price 42 per cent beyond the $5 million reserve to $7.09 million. It was a remarkable result in a market that’s been flat as a tack since March.
About 80 to 90 people turned out for the auction of 295-297 Whitehorse Road, which is on the corner of Power Street and across the road from Balwyn Park. A local private investor sealed the deal, which reflected a yield of 3.8 per cent.
The car yard and a three-storey storage business at the rear are on 844 sq m of land and return $270,000 in rent. The site has Commercial 1 zoning.
Gorman Commercial agents Peter Bremner and Jonathon McCormack handled the auction, with Commercial Property Sales’ Shaun Marijanovic.
Chinatown
A Chinatown property held in the same family for 62 years is going to auction next month. Records show the property at 172-176 Little Bourke Street last changed hands in 1964 for the equivalent of $92,000.
Fitzroys’ most recent Walking the Street report indicates Chinatown has the lowest vacancy rate in the CBD of only 1.1 per cent. It’s also very tightly held.
Just eight Chinatown properties sold in the past 13 years and there hasn’t been a single deal in four years which should make for an interesting auction on June 25. The 321 sq m two-level property is close to Russell Street on the corner of Waratah Place.
The Chun Wazi Dumpling House has a five-year lease that started in June 2025 and a five-year option. The restaurant is on a 175 sq m parcel of land and returns $202,362 a year in rent.
Savills agents Nick Peden, Tom O’Halloran and Benson Zhou have the listing and expect about $5 million.
Ringwood
The Ringwood Savers building was no bargain, with the second-hand goods super-store fetching $10.65 million A local private family has snapped up the 2243 sq m big-box showroom at 79-83 Maroondah Highway on a tight 5.5 per cent yield.
The property, which has a second level leased to PlanCost Australia, is in the retail heart of the eastern suburb, close to Costco, Bunnings and supermarkets and not far from QIC’s Eastland.
However, it has no demolition clauses, and Savers has many years left on its lease. The tenants pay $505,000 a year in rent. Vinci Carbone agents Frank Vinci and Joseph Carbone handled the transaction.
Records show it last changed hands in 2007 for $6.75 million. It’s on a 3510 sq m piece of land, which is about half the size of the most recent major deal on the strip. In 2024, the old Jooce nightclub, on 7015 sq m, sold for $18.88 million, with a permit for 277 units in two towers.
Also up for sale, just across the road, is a 3565 sq m site at 54-56 Maroondah Highway and 10-12 Olive Grove. There are six different properties on four titles with demolition clauses in their leases.
Cushman & Wakefield agents Leon Ma, Joe Kairouz and Valerie Tang are expecting around $11 million. Ringwood’s CBD is one of the Allan government’s key activity centres with this strip, full of showrooms and a clutch of empty sites, earmarked for towers of up to 20 storeys.
City fringe
Italian furniture design company UniFor has sold its West Melbourne office on the CBD fringe for $5 million. The vacant 750 sq m property at 448-454 La Trobe Street was built in 2006, two years after UniFor Australia purchased the site for $1.08 million.
The three-level office is a few minutes walk from the Flagstaff Gardens and the King Street intersection. Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi, Chris James and Ben Liu got the deal over the line.
Office
Gorman Commercial’s office in Hawthorn East is up for sale, with the agents co-marketing the listing along with rivals, Colliers.
Records show the vendor of the four-level office at 415 Riversdale Road is industry pioneer Anne Michaels, the boss of sheBuilt, a predominantly female-led property business.
Michaels was co-developer of the company which built the new 2002 sq m building in 2008, after knocking down a property purchased from birding group, the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union.
Gorman Commercial was the first tenant in the office in 2009 with 15 staff members. Numbers are now up to 50, Steve Gorman told Capital Gain. The Camberwell Junction property is on 1132 sq m in a Major Activity Centre with Commercial 1 zoning.
It has a 4.5-star NABERS rating and would return $1.12 million a year if fully let. The 980 sq m top floor is currently empty.
Colliers’ Scott Orchard, Alex Browne and Eddie Foulkes have the listing, along with tenants Steve Gorman and Peter Bremner from Gorman Commercial. They’re expecting more than $13 million.
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