Capital Gain

Developer tries good cop, bad cop with Guy

AUSTPAC director Bill Boerkamp - who last month threatened Supreme Court action against Planning Minister Matthew Guy - is now seeking ministerial intervention to build a $350 million mixed-use project in Fishermans Bend.

The developer's proposal - the biggest yet within the 240-hectare industrial precinct that was rezoned last year to allow for four new inner-city villages - is for a convention centre, office space, shopping centre, supermarket and visitor car park component.

Three apartment towers rising between 21 and 29 levels would be developed atop a six-level podium. All up, the project would include 685 flats, 490 of them with two bedrooms.

The proposal is earmarked for 123-135 Montague Street, South Melbourne, on the north-east corner of Thistlewaite Street, which Austpac purchased for $12.7 million in late 2010. The property appears on its website as an upcoming project despite ownership transferring to Sandhurst Trustees early last year. Mr Boerkamp was unavailable when contacted.

The village falls within the Fishermans Bend precinct to be known as Montague, which is a short walk to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and the closest precinct to the CBD. The other suburbs are Lorimer, Sandridge and Wirraway, which is closest to Princes Pier and the beach.

Mr Boerkamp has appealed to the Planning Minister on more than one occasion.

Last year, Mr Guy defied the Maribyrnong City Council in supporting Austpac's application to build a $318 million village of five towers in inner-west Footscray. Two of the proposed buildings rise 32 levels, breaching a 25-level maximum height just imposed by the council.

But last month, Mr Boerkamp took a different stance, threatening legal action against the minister's decision approving an Eastern Golf Course at Yering, a move that allowed the club to sell its Doncaster course to Mirvac for $100 million.

Mr Boerkamp, an underbidder for the Doncaster site since 2009, said he spent a lot of money objecting to the Yering proposal, which wasn't presented to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last month.

Austpac's Fishermans Bend proposal also includes 746 car spaces and 780 bike spaces. The height of the tallest apartment tower would be 111.5 metres.

Potential Kew views

A LARGE Kew office building owned by 1980s healthcare millionaire Ian McGoldrick has quietly hit the market.

The two-storey building at 17-27 Cotham Road, near the Kew Junction, is expected to sell for about $9 million as an investment - earning a potential 9.6 per cent market yield based on the potential rental value of $860,000. At present, 40 per cent of the B-grade office is vacant.

The site spreads across 1570 square metres and includes a 93-bay car park. Longer term, it has residential redevelopment potential, with upper levels able to enjoy postcard city skyline views for which many Kew homes are famous.

Colliers International's Jeremy Gruzewski and Peter Bremner with GormanKelly's Robert Kelly and Sandro Peluso, are marketing the site on behalf of administrator Taylor Woodings.

Squeezing the shell

LOCAL developer Caydon has paid $20.9 million for a

St Kilda development site.

The off-market deal for a 2827-square-metre block at 3-5 St Kilda Road, at the busy junction, included a valuable permit for a 26-level apartment tower with some 272 flats and lower-level retail. Caydon is expected to increase the units within the permitted building's shell to more than 300.

The St Kilda project is Caydon's biggest, measured by end value. The company controls other prominent sites in Richmond, Prahran and Brunswick.

The St Kilda proposal was approved by Mr Guy in August 2011. Not long after, an 18-level proposal was lodged by developer Pace for a site across the road. CBRE marketed

3-5 St Kilda Road off-market.

Theatre views

ASX-LISTED Aspen Group has sold a development site at Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula for $2.2 million.

The 48-hectare property at 143 Nepean Highway, abutting the Dromana drive-in-theatre, is near the Martha Cove development at Safety Beach - part of which was also recently listed for sale. The Dromana block was sold to a local investor who is expected to consider a mixed-use project with residential and retail.

Aspen obtained a permit to develop tourist accommodation on the site.

Knight Frank's Michael Hede and Leigh Morris said the new Peninsula Link put the site less than an hour from Melbourne's CBD. It is also a kilometre from Dromana beach.

Iconic Frankston

SIX years and $28 million later - local developer Asian Pacific Building Corporation will relaunch a Frankston landmark once described by comedian Barry Humphries as the world's ugliest building.

The 12-level Peninsula on the Bay, at 435 Nepean Highway, is a mixed-use complex with 86 serviced apartment suites, to be managed by the Quest Group, and 65 standard residential flats.

APBC is reported to have paid $11.2 million for the prominent, but dated, Grollo-built building in May 2007. After failing to sell the site (and redevelopment permit) for between $13 million and $16 million three years later, APBC undertook the office-to-residential conversion.

Estate with the lot

A CITY buyer has paid a speculated $4.5 million for a historic rural estate near Camperdown, about 190 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, between Warrnambool and Colac.

The Purrumbete estate was developed by Geelong Grammar founders, the Manifold family, in 1857. Spread over 170 hectares, with 19 paddocks, the estate was once owned by late stockbroker Rene Rivkin and David Marriner of Melbourne Theatre fame.

The 10-bedroom home, at the end of a 1.5-kilometre driveway, has the potential to be converted into a wedding venue and tourist accommodation space. It includes six Walter Withers murals. It also includes two renovated cottages, a coach house, blacksmith shop and bluestone shearers' accommodation.

Andrew Rice of agency Charles Stewart in Geelong marketed the property, about a 75-minute drive from Geelong.

Grand plan for car park

AT LEFT is an image of the two newest apartment towers earmarked for Southbank.

Mooted to replace a prominent open-air car park abutting the Kings Way off-ramp of the West Gate Freeway, the project, proposed by owners Lustig & Moar and Macquarie Bank, includes two towers rising 37 and 34 levels, incorporating a total of 348 flats.

The consortium does not plan to develop the project. It has been trying to sell the site for four years, at one stage asking $20 million for the site and a permit for a single tower of 37 levels with 300 flats.

The new permit allows the buildings be developed in two stages, making it a lower-risk prospect for developers. The owners have also downgraded their price expectations, with the site expected to sell for between $6 million and $7 million, according to industry sources.

Savills' Clinton Baxter and Nick Peden are marketing the 1455-square-metre site at 42-48 Balston Street with Colliers International's Matthew Stagg.

Email: marcpallisco@gmail.com

Twitter: @marcpallisco