Le Louvre is bidding au revoir to Collins Street

The 87-year-old retailer is bidding au revoir to the "Paris End" of the city eight months after its second-generation owner, Georgina Weir, sold the 1855 building to Queensland-based fund manager QIC for $13.1 million.

Le Louvre will move to another historic and heritage-protected building, at 2 Daly Street, South Yarra, owned by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board since 1927.

The relocation paves the way for QIC, which owns the 51-level 80 Collins Street office directly behind Le Louvre, to forge ahead with a 40-level office building, partly built on stilts, on the north-west corner of Exhibition Street.

Ms Weir's mother, Lillian Wightman, established the Le Louvre boutique in 1922, reportedly to cater for the wives of wealthy city doctors.

Ms Wightman bought the former doctor's home at 74 Collins Street for $40,000 in 1952, and Ms Weir inherited it in 1993.

The boutique which socialite Lillian Frank once said "even millionaires" would have to take a breath before walking into is renowned in retail circles for its imported garments.

Le Louvre's move marks the end of a tumultuous and at times tense relationship between Ms Weir, the National Trust and the various owners of 80 Collins Street, which has towered over Le Louvre since the 1970s.

Previous owners of the tower demolished terraces next door to Le Louvre, replacing them with a forecourt to give the Nauru House office a Collins Street address, and the opportunity to reap Collins Street rents.

Ms Weir had previously likened the jagged western edge of her Collins Street building to "the polar bear enclosure at the zoo".

Le Louvre's new South Yarra headquarters will be built into a double-storey red-brick building, which has until recently been hidden behind a tall fence, and in a former industrial precinct of South Yarra that is undergoing a $1 billion building boom.

The retailer will front a new laneway under construction, connecting the South Yarra railway station to Chapel Street, bypassing Toorak Road.

Ombudsman relocating

VICTORIA's Financial Ombudsman Service is relocating to a new $300 million office where it can keep an eye on the country's biggest financiers.

The Government arm will follow ANZ, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and National Australia Bank from the CBD to Docklands, leasing about 4000 square metres at the unique 717 Bourke Street building, overlooking Etihad Stadium.

Sources say the Ombudsman Service will join insurer Chartis, the new name for AIG, which is believed to have taken about 6000 sq m at the 37,000 sq m office, due for completion in the middle of next year. Chartis will relocate from a St Kilda Road building it owns, sources say.

Colliers International leasing agents Andrew Tracey and Tony Landrigan declined to comment on any leasing activity when contacted by Capital Gain.

Rents in 717 Bourke Street have been reported at about $375 per sq m a year, plus outgoings. About 17,000 sq m of the office is still available for lease, after education service provider Global Campus Management, which leased space in the building for French fashion school Esmod, went into voluntary administration last month.

Site for sore eyes

ALL eyes will turn to Prahran's former Vision Australia site, which it is believed will come back on to the market early next year, with a development permit for a $68 million, 330-unit residential village.

Gersh Investment Partners and Pomeroy Pacific agreed to pay Vision Australia $25.1 million for the 201-209 High Street office at the peak of the boom in 2007, but this deal has yet to settle.

In October, it was reported the consortium was seeking a joint-venture partner to develop the project, but it's now believed the group is hoping to break even, and maybe even pocket a small profit, by selling the site.

As well as the Prahran site, Vision Australia sold its prominent Ormond Hall site, at 557-563 St Kilda Road, to Stockland for $28.3 million.

Agents say the eventual Prahran sale price will be an interesting test as to the strength of the suburban development site sector, which has outperformed the commercial sectors in recent years.

Mini's maxi sale

BIB Stilwell's art-deco inner-city Mini car dealership has sold for $3.6 million.

Nichols Crowder director Matt Nichols said the double-storey building, at the suburb border of Toorak and South Yarra, sold on a yield of 3.8 per cent, based on the $139,700 annual rent Mini pays to occupy the busy corner.

Freeway frontage

MAB Corporation, which is expected to unveil itself as the owner of Doncaster's Eastern Golf Course before Christmas, has sold a prominent 2.1-hectare industrial development site with a 300-metre frontage to the Tullamarine Freeway, near the airport.

CVA Property Consultants director Anthony Carbone, who sold the site with ICG Property, confirmed the property sold for $2.9 million.

MAB has also sold the final piece of land at a business park, built within the $1 billion University Hill project, in Bundoora. Porter Davis is believed to be paying $1 million for a purpose-built office, which it will use to service its northern suburbs operations.

Trio of terraces sold

A TRIO of adjoining terraces one of which accommodates city retailer Bernard's Magic Shop sold at auction yesterday for just over $7 million.

The combined properties cover a site area of 206 sq m and include a net lettable retail area of 473 sq me.

Given the property's current annual rent of $234,690, the fully leased shops sold on a low yield of 3.3 per cent.

Allard & Shelton director Joseph Walton and Peter Lane marketed the shops, between 209 and 213 Elizabeth Street, and said the campaign attracted interest from investors and developers.

$30 million resort

INTERESTS associated with Phileo Australia are looking to redevelop Phillip Island's Swan Bay Caravan Park site into a $30 million resort, including a hotel, conference rooms and restaurants.

Sources say the site's owners, which include developers Rudy Koh and Fui Chiew, are planning to lodge a new development application for the 1-11 Lock Road site in Rhyll, on the north-east tip of the island.

A Bass Coast Shire Council spokeswoman said a resort development application was rejected by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal two years ago. A representative from the development consortium did not return calls to discuss any new proposal.

Elsewhere on the island, Woolworths is planning to convert the Boomerang Caravan Park into a $20 million shopping centre.

Among Phileo's major residential projects in Melbourne is the 7.2-hectare Standard Brickworks site, at the border of Box Hill and Surrey Hills, which it plans to develop into a big housing estate from next year.