Who owns Melbourne: Celebrities, rich lister families, foreign nations among surprise owners of city’s icons

The family who founded a cleaning empire, a Gold Logie winner, plus interstate and overseas groups are among the surprise owners of some of the city’s most-iconic places. SEE THE MAP

Nathan Mawby and Alesha Capone

4 min read

November 9, 2024 - 5:00PM

Real Estate

Property

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The family who founded Godfrey’s vacuum cleaners and a Gold Logie winner are among the surprising owners of some of Melbourne’s most iconic places.

But the role of private families and personalities owning city landmarks is headed to a crossroads, with property experts warning working from home and state government property policies are combining to put a question mark over who will own Melbourne in the future.

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Billions of dollars of the city’s most iconic landmarks are held by foreign and interstate governments or corporate groups.

And arguably Melbourne’s best publicly accessible view, from the Skydeck at Eureka Tower, has belonged to a Sydney-based property fund since they splashed $60m on it in 2021.

The people who own some of Melbourne’s most-recognisable venues have been revealed. Picture: Supplied

The view from the Eureka Skydeck in Melbourne, which belongs to a Sydney-based property fund.

And the firm linked to Sydney-based rich lister Andrew Roberts, isn’t the only one from the Harbour City to own a Melbourne icon.

The Myer Bourke St store is majority owned by the Sydney-based Abacus Group, though the remainder is held by Melbourne shopping centre management group Vicinity Centres.

Meanwhile, the Queensland Government’s Queensland Investment Corporation owns either all of or a substantial chunk of eight Melbourne shopping plazas, including Pacific Werribee and

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JLL Head of Capital Markets for Victoria Josh Rutman said despite ongoing economic challenges, Melbourne was still Australia’s most liveable city and poised to be its largest — but offered better value than Sydney, which was drawing interstate funds here.

But Mr Rutman warned the state government was risking squeezing out colourful local personalities that owned Melbourne’s icons, with rising tax burdens and building requirements making it less and less feasible for private owners to persist.

Melbourne’s Block Arcade is owned by the Cohen family, who founded the Godfreys vacuum cleaner business. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

The iconic MCG is owned by the State Government, and estimated to be worth more than $370m. Picture: David Caird

“While a large portion of Melbourne real estate ownership is dominated by private wealth, it is possible this will diminish over time,” Mr Rutman said.

“Especially if the taxation regime continues to penalise landlords, and governments impose onerous restrictions and costly requirements for property owners.”

Wizel Property Group boss Mark Wizel has bought and sold some of the city’s most high-profile sites for more than a decade, and said he believed there was a huge “war chest” of money being held by some of the nation’s richest families.

Mr Wizel said he was expecting moves from the likes of the Alter family and the Besens, who own a substantial chunk of the city’s iconic Shell House skyscraper on Spring St alongside the Roth family, in the next 18 months.

St Kilda’s Luna Park is owned by consortium including trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, though majority held by Melbourne-based group Virtual Communities.

“Melbourne office buildings are struggling, office building values and sentiment is the worst it has been in 20 years and it’s not expected to make a great return in the short term,” Mr Wizel said.

He added that most office buildings in Melbourne would be for sale today if the right price was offered, given the conditions being caused by high costs for finance, falling building values in the CBD, Victorian government property policy uncertainty and vast numbers of people still working from home years after the end of the pandemic.

There have already been recent major moves, albeit to capital giants, with US property giant Blackstone Group buying out Crown Towers and casino for $8.9bn in 2022.

On the reverse of this, Mr Wizel noted mainland Chinese money was already in decline, and a number of CBD investments they had bought previously would likely be sold off as it became more difficult to get funds out of China.

Crown Towers is owned by US-based Blackstone Group, which bills itself as the world’s largest alternative asset manager.

Beyond high-profile locations, Mr Wizel said Korea’s National Pension Services and Canada’s CPP Investments pension fund were among the biggest foreign investors, and that there had been a “massive emergence of Japanese capital in Victoria” in recent years.

He noted Japan’s interests were typically lower profile and they often partnered with a local institutional developer.

There’s plenty of other Asian capital tied up in Melbourne, with high-end CBD shopping destination Emporium Melbourne 50 per cent owned by the local Vicinity Centres group, but the rest is owned by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC.

But there are still big name Melbourne identities linked to some of the city’s landmarks, with the Rialto towers on Collins St split between the Sydney headquartered property investment trust Dexus and Rino Grollo’s Grollo Group.

The ownership of Rialto towers is split between a Sydney headquartered property investment trust, and Rino Grollo’s Grollo Group. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Established in the 1940s, the family-owned property, tourism and investment company’s interests also include the Mt Buller ski resort.

The brother and sister team of Kayely Marriner and Jason Marriner are behind the Marriner Group which holds multiple theatres: the Princess Theatre, Plaza Ballroom, Comedy Theatre and Forum Melbourne.

Gold Logie winner and former television presenter Mike Walsh owns Her Majesty’s Theatre, while the Cohen family, who founded Godfrey’s vacuum cleaners, have been on a buying spree across the city since selling the company for $300m in the mid 2000s.

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They now own icons including The Espy hotel in St Kilda and The Block Arcade.

Trucking billionaire Lindsay Fox owns a chunk of the city’s place for fun, Luna Park, which he shares with Melbourne-based investment group Virtual Communities.

His Fox Holdings Group is also the owner of Avalon Airport and, the magnate holds joint control over Essendon’s airfield with property developer and Beck Corporation boss Max Beck.

There are also international rich listers in the mix, with Hong Kong-based businessman Karl Kwok buying one of the city’s grandest skyscrapers at 333 Collins St for $243m in 1996.

A year later he won the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, which he contested again this year. The Kwok family also owns Wilson Parking.

120 Collins Street is a 265m-high skyscraper in Melbourne, and is half owned by Mirvac through a managed fund, with the balance by Investa Commercial Property Fund. Current industry estimates have it valued at $800m.

Sporting stars have also invested in venues around the city, with one of the most notable being former Collingwood player Dane Swan. The premiership player and Brownlow Medallist is a part owner in Windsor’s Union Hotel, South Melbourne’s and South Yarra’s The Osborne, along with business partners Simon Lennox and Gabriel Jakobson.

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