Fate of $15 million Toorak mansion once owned by Lleyton Hewitt up in the air

A Toorak building site, at 17 Hopetoun Street, fetched $12.25 million – 16 per cent less than its purchase price – and a small office at 530 Little Collins Street has also sold.

Scullerymade sale

The owners of Malvern cooking wares store Scullerymade are offloading an investment they have held for more than 30 years.

The corner four-storey building at 144-148 A’Beckett Street is on 288 sq m of land and has Capital City 1 zoning.

Located deep in the Queen Victoria Market redevelopment precinct, the property is expected to fetch more than $8 million at auction on August 18.

Records show Susie Hawes and Howard Gibbons paid $785,000 for the property in 1991 – just as the recession started to bite.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Oliver Hay, Anthony Kirwan, Daniel Wolman and Leon Ma, with MMJ Real Estate’s Joel Wald, have the listing.

Cushman also has listed another major development site in the West Melbourne fringe.

The 1420 sq m site at 60-80 Adderley Street and 133-137 Batman Street has two warehouses governed by flexible leases with demolition clauses.

The properties, purchased in 2011 for $4.65 million, are expected to sell for more than $15 million.

Wolman, Alexander Leggo, Marcus Neill and Leon Ma are handling expressions of interest in the site, which is zoned Flexible Special-Use.

Golden mile sale

A Super A-Mart showroom on Nunawading’s golden mile is understood to have sold for about $30 million.

The 7185 sq m showroom is on 17,330 square metres of land at 410-422 Whitehorse Road, next to the Harvey Norman outlet and near the Rooks Road intersection.

Records show the vendor, SHL Nominees, paid $10.61 million for the property in 1999. The group is controlled by the Lederman family, cousins to the rich-lister Werdiger family, with whom they co-own several properties.

The deal was negotiated by Stonebridge’s Justin Dowers and Kevin Tong, with Charter Keck Cramer acting as transaction advisor. All parties declined to reveal the sale price.

Deep pockets

Deal flow has been slow this year, with many investors finding it hard to obtain finance from banks amidst economic uncertainty. Buyers often need deep pockets to make a purchase.

However, a BP service station in Wollert sold last week for $6.75 million on a tight yield of 5.16 per cent, with the buyer – a cashed-up farming family – settling in 28 days, in a deal struck by Stonebridge’s Dowers and Tong, along with Rorey James.

James, together with Nic Hage, Sarah Xi and Dylan Kilner, also sold 5 Lloyd Street Strathmore for $3.75 million on a 4.82 per cent yield; the Repco Pakenham at 8 Station Street for $2.4 million on a 4.36 per cent yield; and 95 Puckle Street Moonee Ponds for $1.62 million on a 4 per cent yield.

The western suburbs are ‘a major benefactor of logistics groups looking to expand to cater for the rapid growth of e-commerce’.

Colliers agent Daniel Telling

The Repco site attracted 10 bidders and sold for 33 per cent above its reserve price, James said. “These buyers are paying 100 per cent cash. It’s a great time for them because banks are not lending so easily, and there is not much competition”.

In Collingwood, Fitzroys agents Shane Mills and Ervin Niyaz sold 74 Smith Street – home of Smith Kebabs – for $1.7 million on a 3.7 per cent yield.

Niyaz said the buyer liked how the tenant complemented the busy nightlife on Smith and Gertrude streets.

Distribution centre

An Altona distribution centre occupied by high-vis clothing maker Portwest Pacific has sold for $14.6 million on a sharp yield of 4.8 per cent.

Portwest Pacific has a five-year lease on the 6733 sq m industrial property at 48-54 Burns Road, and pays $706,955 a year in rent.

The property is on a 11,576 sq m infill landholding, with the potential for future development.

The transaction was handled by Colliers’ Daniel Telling, Nick Saunders and High Gilbert, together with transaction advisor David O’Callaghan, from O’Callaghan Commercial.

The buyer – a private investor with business links in the west – was represented by Aston Commercial’s Jeremy Gruzewski.

“The asset was purchased new in 2011 as a purpose-built design for TTA Australia – a subsidiary of the Toyota – for $7.2 million,” O’Callaghan said.

Telling said the western suburbs are “a major benefactor of the structural tailwinds in the sector since 2020, with retailers and transport and logistics groups looking to expand their footprints to cater for the rapid growth of e-commerce”.