Sun rises on Carlton hotel as Gerald’s Bar takes over
Capital Gain
The old Rising Sun Hotel in Carlton North has a new tenant 10 months after the Portelli family – also the pub’s owners – shut the revered Enoteca Sileno.
Rathdowne Street stalwart Gerald’s Bar has scored the space at 920 Lygon Street where Enoteca Sileno traded for 20 years.
The move represents a big expansion for the tiny neighbourhood bar, which has plied its trade at 386 Rathdowne Street for nearly 20 years but will shift all its operations to Lygon Street when the lease runs out.
920 Lygon Street, Carlton North. The old Rising Sun hotel and former premises of Enoteca Sileno.
The rent has been struck at $200,000 a year, plus outgoings, for a five-year lease term with two five-year options.
The Rising Sun Hotel, on the corner of Richardson Street, already had a storied history before Enoteca Sileno made the move out of its original Amess Street shop in 2004.
The pub had strong associations with the Carlton Football Club. Publican Ivan Rohrt, a Melbourne city councillor in the 1960s, was a big fundraiser for the club and became Carlton president in 1975.
The leasing deal was struck by Gross Waddell ICR agent Raff De Luise.
Club Tivoli
The German community’s social club in Prahran has sold in a flash, just days after the expressions of interest campaign closed.
A developer has snapped up Club Tivoli at 291-293 Dandenong Road for a price believed to be more than $18 million.
Club Tivoli-Deutscher Verein – to give it its full name – was established in 1860, and has been operating in Prahran for more than 35 years. The German cultural group had originally planned to retain the club as part of an apartment development.
Club Tivoli at 291-293 Dandenong Road, Prahran, has sold for more than $18 million.
Knight Frank’s Stephen Kelly, Tom Ryan and Nick Bisset ran the campaign with Colliers’ agents Jozef Dickinson, Alex Browne and Philip Heberling. They declined to comment on the price or the buyer.
The club is on a large 3085 sq m site on the corner of Chomley Street. The site has a permit for a six-level project with 56 apartments.
Day hospital
Fertility clinic owner BGH Capital has sold a day hospital in East Melbourne to an Asian-based investor group.
There were nine bidders for the 13-bed hospital at 23 Clarendon Street, which is situated on the edge of the medical precinct around the Epworth Freemasons Hospital, between Victoria Parade and Albert Street.
The vacant 1549 sq m hospital fetched about $10 million – a bit of a haircut from the $12.35 million paid in 2023 by private equity group BGH after it acquired the hospital tenant, listed IVF-provider Virtus Health, in a $700 million deal.
The day hospital at 23 Clarendon Street, East Melbourne, sold for about $10 million.
CBRE’s Mark Granter, Sandro Peluso, Marcello Caspani-Muto and Kai Wang handled the transaction.
“The short-listed bidders were investors, with owner-occupiers trailing them,” Caspani-Muto said.
The buyer is planning to re-let the medical building.
Across the street, the majestic heritage-listed Clarendon Terrace is back on the market, now vacant and with a new lower price tag of $9.1 million to $10 million – down from $11 million to $12 million. The property, made up of three terraces, was recently home to the Menzies Foundation and Her Place Australian Women’s Heritage and Museum.
Kay & Burton agent Monique Depierre said the departure of the last remaining tenants would make the building more attractive to potential owner-occupiers.
Clarendon Terrace at 208-212 Clarendon Street, East Melbourne
Built in 1857, the property was designed by architect Osgood Pritchard and acquired by the National Trust in 1978 after its owners proposed demolition and redevelopment.
Strata office
A clutch of strata offices in the CBD’s prestigious east end have come up for sale, including level 11 of the classic mid-century modernist building at 100 Collins Street.
The Australia Post-Tel Institute is also selling its half-floor office on level six of the former cinema complex at 140 Bourke Street. And level 13 of 41X in Exhibition Street has been relisted.
Gilbert Court, built in Collins Street in the mid-1950s, is one of Melbourne's first "glass boxes".Credit: Joe Armao
The API was established in 1918 for employees of the Postmaster-General, an organisation that became Australia Post and Telstra. It bought its 283 sq m office in 2013 for $1.34 million and it is now vacant.
Cushman & Wakefield agents Anthony Kirwan, Jeff Ha and Jack Cooper expect around $2.3 million, about $7800 a sq m.
Ha said the last sale in the building was back in May 2024 when suite 4.04 fetched $1.75 million, a rate of $10,542 a sq m.
They also have a 65 sq m suite in Alcaston House for sale for the first time since 1997, when its vendors paid $180,000. It’s now for sale for about $1 million.
The 212 sq m office on level 11 at 100 Collins Street is leased to a law firm for two years, which has cooled price expectations slightly. Recent deals in the building have hit the $4 million mark, but this one is expected to sell for about $3.5 million.
Meanwhile, level 13 at 41 Exhibition is vacant and back on the market for more than $3.95 million.
The 280 sq m property last changed hands in 2013 for $2,095,000 million. CVA’s Ian Angelico and Jarrod Moran have the listing.
Flipping flats
Seasoned property players are flipping a block of flats in Brighton less than a year after they settled on a $5.52 million deal.
467 New Street, Brighton
The flats at 467 New Street are on a 1629 sq m site near Elsternwick Park and less than a kilometre from Elwood beach.
They were bought in 2023 by a joint venture between Michael Robinson and former Icon executives Nick Brown and Georgina Goldsworthy.
The site comes with approvals for 10 luxury townhouses designed by Cera Stribley Architects. JLL’s Jesse Radisich, Maddie Pizzey and Xander Yeo have the listing and are expecting north of $8 million.
Ivanhoe shops
A block of 30 apartments and two shops at 1065 Heidelberg Road in Ivanhoe has sold for $18.2 million to a passive investor.
1065 Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe.
The two and three-bedroom apartments were completed about seven years ago and replaced a strip of houses along the railway line. Raff De Luise director Gross Waddell ICR did the deal.
The property fronts Darebin railway station at the entrance to the Ivanhoe village shopping strip, where a building with three shops and an office sold this week for $3.05 million, reflecting a tight yield of 3.7 per cent.
The 475 sq m property at 173-177 Upper Heidelberg Road is on 540 sq m of land and was bought by the Proxima Investment Fund.
“We are not hesitant to purchase commercial properties on very low passing yields and have a strong appetite to take on properties with short-term leases, tenants in default or vacant possession,” Proxima’s James Doherty said.
Gross Waddell ICR’s Alex Ham and Andrew Greenaway handled the expressions of interest campaign, which attracted three buyers.
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