This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
LESS than 18 months after paying nearly $50 million, Longriver has quickly sold off seven adjoining Melbourne CBD sites, including the former Continental Hotel, to developer V-Leader.
V-Leader is weighing up the specifics of a mixed use project for the 1,137 sqm site within the Chinatown precinct, which covers 157-173 Lonsdale Street and 234 Russell Street and has more than 100 metres of street frontage.
The seven sites were sold together by Colliers’ Oliver Hay, Leon Ma, Daniel Wolman and Matt Stagg. Currently, it has a diversified income stream from seven tenancies across a four-storey building home to bar Heartbreaker, a two-floor extension fronting Belman Place, and one- and a two-storey retail buildings.
It is close to QV Melbourne, Melbourne Central, and RMIT University, as well as Charter Hall’s Wesley Place office precinct.
Arealytics shows Longriver picked up the site in an off-market deal in the middle of 2021 for $49.22 million. It had previously sold in 1995 for $4 million.
“There’s a large amount of capital from investors and developers wanting to take advantage of the limited supply of land in the CBD. Demand has flooded in from local, interstate and offshore groups and created a competitive atmosphere amongst buyers seeking quality land parcels, with considerable opportunity waiting to be unlocked,” Hay said.
V-Leader’s managing director, Andy Zhang said “We’re delighted with the acquisition as it allows V- Leader to grow our Melbourne CBD profile into a new segment within the east end”.
“We’ve spent a considerable amount of time analysing the various options and given the sites proximity to an abundance of amenity, the location instils an opportunity for a variety of uses. We’re considering a mixed-use project with the exact outcome to be solidified over the coming months.”
Earlier this year, V-Leader backed the rebound in the CBD office market and gained approval to remove the hotel component of its 600 Lonsdale Street project to instead deliver an all-office 40-storey tower, while in South Melbourne it has teamed up with developer Tim & Place for a mostly residential $160 million project targeting affluent local “right-sizers”.
The newest deal follows four shops and a restaurant on Lonsdale Street selling for $32.6 million on a yield of sub-3%, and last year’s CBD sales of 422 Little Collins Street, for $43 million, the former Swinburne University campus at 226 Flinders Lane for $37 million, 170 Queen Street, which sold for $29.58 million and 175 Flinders Lane for $25.2 million. Those were concluded by Colliers.