James Packer backs developer Orchard Piper to redevelop Leo's Fine Food & Wine site

Tycoon James Packer’s property empire is expanding and his latest acquisition comes as a popular gourmet supermarket in a swanky part of Melbourne shuts down.

Leo's Fine Foods and Wine Kew owner Leo Blake gets some caviar in store in 1998.

Billionaire James Packer has teamed up with luxury developer Orchard Piper to buy and demolish a gourmet supermarket in Melbourne’s Kew, assuring locals that a boutique retail offering is part of the vision for the residential project.

Mr Packer, who has long dabbled in property development, is backing the company’s purchase of the site of the Leo’s Fine Food & Wine supermarket. Although details haven’t been revealed, the supermarket will close late next year, giving the developer time to work up its plans.

Le Max Group, owner of Leo’s, said that both its Kew and Heidelberg outlets in Melbourne would close and the properties sold. Le Max owners Leo Blake and wife Rose have controlled the Kew site since 1971 when it was bought for just $42,000.

Mr Packer has backed Orchard Piper on other projects and the firm said it was working with architects Wardle on its latest enterprise.

Orchard Piper is in the early stages of planning a design-led urban renewal project which made better use of the site by providing a much-needed retail and residential offering.

Orchard Piper director Luke McKie and Wardle director John Wardle each live in Kew, and their local knowledge will be tapped to navigate planning for the sensitive sites around Kew Junction.

Mr McKie said that the developer would tread carefully. “We recognise that Leo’s is a much-loved local institution and, as part of the acquisition, intend to incorporate a fine produce offering that delivers the same quality and variety of groceries the community has long enjoyed,” he said.

Orchard Piper is best known for its ritzy Toorak projects. But its scheme in more conservative Kew is likely to be lower key. Le Max group general manager Pino Paolucci said that the developer had an “exciting vision” for the Kew precinct.

Mr Packer has made a series of bets on property developers, backing not only Orchard Piper but also Time & Place in a series of projects around the country.

Its projects have been in areas ranging from Sydney’s northern beaches, where Time & Place is developing in Manly, to inner city Surry Hills, where he bought a major complex last year. Mr Packer is also behind its plans in a Potts Point development, where The Chimes building will be demolished to make way for 34 apartments.

In May, Orchard Piper together with Mr Packer’s NPACT launched its second Toorak Village development, One Toorak Place. Its penthouse was sold to retail executive Daniel Agostinelli and wife Lynette for more than $20m.

The off-market penthouse sale, which is ranked among Melbourne’s most significant, set a new record for Toorak apartments, underscoring the ongoing demand for prime residences in blue-chip suburbs.

A record was set by Orchard Piper in Toorak in May last year, when it sold two sub-penthouses on a corner of Mathoura Road and Toorak Road for more than $11.5m each.

LAWD agents Lukas Byrns, Paul Callanan and Peter Sagar brokered the sale.

Originally published as James Packer backs developer Orchard Piper to redevelop Leo's Fine Food & Wine site