Capital Gain
Former Richmond star Dustin Martin might take a bit of a haircut while selling down his shrinking his $20 million property portfolio as Saturday’s AFL grand final plays out on big screens across the country.
Yes, there’s no escape from football related news even in Capital Gain. Martin, who retired in 2024, has listed 367 Victoria Street in Abbotsford, a building he bought for $3 million in 2019, when he was plotting his retirement plan.
However, the superstar’s talents haven’t proved as lucrative on the property playing field as they were in football.
Teska Carson agents Rory Teska Szer and Larry Takis are quoting about $2.2 million for No.367, which is a bit of a haircut considering it has a fresh five-year lease paying $120,000 a year.
Last month, Martin sold 297 Victoria Street for about $2.2 million. Although that building didn’t quite meet its price aspirations of $2.3 million to $2.5 million, it did at least make a profit on the 2019 purchase price of $1.9 million.
While Martin owns No.367 in his own right, he bought a string of Abbotsford and Richmond properties in partnership with his disgraced former manager Ralph Carr, who was jailed for six years last month for rape convictions.
Martin now has new management and perhaps a new plan for retirement income.
Coffee Palace
Andy Zhang’s V-Leader Group is selling its new 11-storey tower above the old South Yarra Coffee Palace and Hotel Claremont for about $90 million.
The new 5565-square-metre mixed-use property at 189 Toorak Road retains the Victorian facade of the old building, but it’s all brand new at the back. It was designed by global architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).
The building is anchored by a 3908-square-metre lease to co-working operator The Commons, which runs a health club alongside its office space.
Other tenants include SOM’s Asia Pacific headquarters, Fancourt Capital Group and V-Leader Group’s head office. The owners behind Domain Road restaurant Gilson will be opening its third restaurant on the ground floor.
The building was completed just last year. The previous owner, hotelier Michael Renzella, sold the hotel for a reported $22 million in 2021, with the permit ready to run. Cushman & Wakefield’s Oliver Hay, Leon Ma and Daniel Wolman have the listing.
Aeolian Hall
Aeolian Hall, the building which housed one of Australia’s first gay and lesbian venues, opposite Melbourne Town Hall, is for sale.
Val Eastwood, a dancer who wore “mannish” suits, opened Val’s Coffee Lounge in the eight-level building at 123 Swanston Street, in 1951.
The busy thoroughfare is the main reason why the Aeolian Company, the Australian arm of a US musical instrument maker, built the property and moved from Collins Street. The site was previously occupied by the Royal Oak Hotel.
According to newspaper reports at the time, the Aeolian Company was recording concerts at the Town Hall and then planning to sell the records across the street.
“Records made by the new electrical process are proving very popular,” the company told Melbourne’s The Herald in 1926.
The building was designed by Peck and Kemter in 1926 and completed by the 1930s. It’s in a half-block of the CBD dominated by art deco construction, including the Manchester Unity building, the Burley-Griffin-designed Capitol Cinema and the 12-storey Century Building.
JLL’s Romanor Falconer, Stuart Taylor and MingXuan Li have the listing and expect it to fetch in the mid-$20 million range.
The 1292-square-metre building is fully leased to four different tenants and returns about $1.1 million a year in rent. Its vendors paid $15.91 million in 2015.
Queen’s corner
At the other end of town, a 12-storey tower on the corner of Queen and Lonsdale streets is for sale for the first time since 2000.
The tower of 5175 square metres at 224 Queen Street is in the heart of the legal precinct, which could attract owner-occupiers or investors prepared to refurbish and re-let.
It’s about two-thirds leased and returns $1.16 million a year from tenants including Maincourt Assets, Sinisgali Foster Legal and Mens Suit Warehouse.
Records show it last changed hands in 2000 when the Foti family’s Forrestfield paid $10.75 million on a bloated yield of 8.2 per cent.
Its transaction history epitomises Melbourne’s property cycle. It cost $14.55 million in 1988 before passing in at auction in 1990 for $8.75 million against a reserve of $12.5 million. Times were tough. This time, there are hopes the building might fetch more than $25 million.
Cushman & Wakefields’ Daniel Wolman, Oliver Hay and Leon Ma have the listing with JACX Property acting as transaction adviser.
Terrace living
As befits a suburb with two universities, Carlton is awash with modern student accommodation, but Cydelia House, at 101-103 Drummond Street, brings back the terrace house living from earlier times.
The two adjoining buildings are part of Drummond Terrace, a grand three-storey row of seven houses built by colonial architect Walter Scott Law as a speculative venture in 1890-91, just before a major property crash.
In 2016, they were converted into 20-self-contained rooms with communal dining, living, study and kitchen areas and leased to the University of Melbourne for post-graduate and mature age student accommodation.
Colliers’ Alex Browne, Matt Stagg and Ryan Milivojac are running the campaign and Unified Property Services is the transaction manager.
The expected price is more than $9 million. That’s good value. A joint venture between the Mario Lo Giudice and Freeman families sold No.97 for $5.25 million in late 2025.
Day surgery
An as yet unnamed health operator has swooped on the empty Monash IVF day surgery hospital next door to the Monash Medical Centre in a deal worth under $20 million.
Monash IVF is moving out of the 2100-square-metre private hospital to new space at the M-City mixed-use precinct.
A caveat has been placed on the hospital at 252-256 Clayton Road, but it only reveals a trust company managed by elite legal firm Arnold Bloch Leibler.
Records show the vendor, Sarou, is owned by a large group of gynaecologists, including Gab Kovacs and the Wood family, with links to Monash IVF.
CBRE’s Australian Healthcare & Social Infrastructure team of Sandro Peluso, Marcello Caspani-Muto, Jimmy Tat and Kai Wang did the deal, which attracted plenty of interest from owner-occupiers keen to get a spot close to the Monash Medical Centre.
The hospital is on two levels and includes three theatres, recovery bays, consulting suites and specialised IVF laboratory space.
In other healthcare news, a practice leased to Bupa’s Dental Corporation and operating as Healthy Smiles is on the market.
Records show it’s been owned since 2011 by Healthy Smiles founder and principal dentist Ved Berani.
The property at 150-152 Canterbury Road is on 1575 square metres near Blackburn Road.
Bupa has a five-year lease with two five-year options and pays $338,541 a year in rent.
Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi, Lewis Waddell and Ben Liu are marketing the property and expect more than $5.8 million.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
