Sir Arthur Warner’s family drop anchor on marine business

ESG credentials

Sydney developer Danny Avidan’s Dare Property Group is selling a new boutique office building it completed in Collingwood’s “hot zone” last year.

Dubbed Zero Gipps, the building’s zero carbon emissions credentials, including solar PV, recycled rainwater and electric bike charging stations, are a big part of an environmental, social, and governance marketing campaign for the property.

The 50 Gipps Street building has 2000 sq m of space over six levels, with a central atrium and linking bridges providing light and ventilation. It is about 28.5 per cent leased.

JLL’s Tim Carr, Josh Rutman, Jesse Radisich and MingXuan Li have the listing and are expecting the property to sell in the low $20 million range.

The building is around the corner from Canva’s new space at 30 Rupert Street, where the global graphic design firm opened its first Melbourne office.

Canva has taken over 2000 sq m of space near Victoria Parade, most of which was occupied by yoga gear retailer Lululemon, which is retaining half the ground floor.

Tourist return boost for hotels

The boutique Adelphi Hotel on Flinders Lane has hit the market amid a swath of larger hotel openings.

The move comes as tourists – both local and international – return to Melbourne’s city streets.

Hotel operator Marriott has opened the doors of the Le Meridien Hotel at the top of Bourke Street, and a Ritz-Carlton hotel on Spencer Street.

The 34-room Adelphi Hotel at 187 Flinders Lane is in the heart of the city’s restaurant strip. The building, with its landmark rooftop swimming pool, was launched with great fanfare in 1994 during the city’s post-recession renaissance.

Architects Denton Corker Marshall had bought the former warehouse and revamped it into an ultra-modern hotel. It was acquired by Dion Chandler, Ozzie Kheir and Simon Ongarato 10 years ago and underwent an interior refurbishment.

The hotel, which includes the lower-ground Nomad restaurant, a cocktail bar and boardroom, is being offered with vacant possession.

JLL’s Peter Harper and Nick MacFie, together with CVA agents Charles Cini and Ian Angelico, are running an expression of interest campaign and are expecting the property to sell in the low-to-mid $20 million range.

Greensborough’s First Choice

There were 13 registered bidders at the sale of a yet-to-open First Choice bottle shop in Greensborough on Tuesday, which sold under the hammer for $7.4 million.

Five parties made just 11 bids before the buyer secured the property on a yield of 4.7 per cent.

Stonebridge agent Rorey James, who handled the sales campaign with Justin Dowers and Kevin Tong, said half the bidders came via its Asia practice team, with most planning to buy without debt.

The 832 sq m shop at 96 Main Street had an unusually short 2.5 week advertising campaign.

Once part of a larger offering, the space has been freshly leased to First Choice for seven years, returning $380,163 in annual rent.

Little Collins store snapped up

Global camera group Leica has secured the lease on a three-level building at 267 Little Collins Street for its new Melbourne CBD flagship store.

Leica set a benchmark for rentals on the Little Collins strip, paying $1000 a square metre for eight years for the 500 sq m-plus building.

The off-market deal was struck by Ainsworth Property’s Josh Luftig, Tan Thach and Zelman Ainsworth.

Leica will sell cameras on the ground floor while using level one as a showroom and gallery, with level two becoming a workshop academy. The camera manufacturer and retailer is moving out of the St Collins Lane shopping centre, where it once had a shop on level one before moving into Coach’s vacated space on Collins Street.

Previously a bar, 267 Little Collins was bought off-market by restaurateur George Sykiotis a year ago for $8.45 million.

The move comes as international watch retailer Bovet is poised to open its first shop in Australia in the timepiece precinct at 298 Collins Street, alongside Watches Of Switzerland and The Hour Glass.

Gorman Allard Shelton agents Patrick Barnes and Joseph Walton brokered that deal for annual rent of $350,000.

Leica’s new premises is opposite the new Rodd & Gunn double storey shop, which is opening in the old David Jones building on Little Collins Street. Cosmetics brand Mecca will also soon open its new flagship store in the Bourke Street Mall-facing space.

Rumours of new mall tenants are running hot. Duty-free operator Lotte is tipped for the retail space below the new 450-room hotel at Melbourne Walk, and Uniqlo is reportedly eyeing off the Centrepoint Mall at 286 Bourke Street.

Council divests three properties

The City of Melbourne is selling three properties worth more than $10 million in the CBD and surrounding suburbs.

The properties – at 100-104 A’Beckett Street in the CBD, 505-513 Abbotsford Street, North Melbourne, and 47-49 Canning Street, Carlton – were deemed surplus to future needs.

Council voted to sell the properties, including a fourth at 30-38 Gatehouse Drive, Kensington, late last year.

The A’Beckett Street property was a former childcare centre that closed suddenly in 2018. The 492 sq m property is a double-storey bluestone building on a 438 sq m site that features a side garden.

CBRE agents Alex Brierley, Nathan Mufale, JJ Heng, Jack Pignata and Scott Hawthorne are handling the sales campaigns.

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