Green apartment project makes planning putsch

A proposed 17-storey residential timber tower in Abbotsford is bypassing local objectors and planners and landing straight on the minister’s desk.

New build-to-rent group Model is staking a bold claim for the project next door to Victoria Park railway station on the site of an old Johnston Street servo.

A render of Model’s plans for 276-286 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, next to Victoria Park station.

Model boss Rory Hunter said the group is applying through the state government’s Development Facilitation Pathway which punts the 190-unit project straight to Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny rather than through the City of Yarra.

The project will be built to Passive House standards, aiming for a 6-Star Green Star rating, and will allocate 10 per cent of the apartments to affordable housing.

“That’s the reason we are doing what we are doing. We couldn’t do that if we were bogged down in planning,” Hunter said.

After selling his last company, developing and running hotels and private islands in Asia, Hunter landed on the build-to-rent model, but with sustainability features.

Hunter said other groups are focusing on scale but not what can be achieved with strong de-carbonisation features.

The existing service station at 276-286 Johnston Street.

“We are different to the other groups and this is why. It’s a way for us to compete at lots of levels. We believe that we can do things that others can’t.”

Hunter declined to reveal how much Model paid for 276-286 Johnston Street. At the time of listing it was expected to sell for around $14 million, but other recent deals on the strip suggest a range of between $15-18 million. Records show the 1693 square metre site last changed hands in 2001 for $2.55 million.

Down the road, Amber Property Group bought 422-430 Johnston Street in 2022 at $9070 sq m, and a deal for the old Tarantos shoe shop site at No.288-296, across the street from Model’s site, was struck at around $10,700 a square metre.

JLL’s Radisich, who did the deal with Tom Noonan and Jarrod Herscu, declined to comment on the price.

Red light

Meanwhile, Amber Property Group has switched the lights to red on its plans for a high-rise retirement project near the Yarra River.

The 2428 sq m site at 422-430 Johnston Street, on the corner of Trenerry Crescent, is back on the market just two years after Amber paid $22.02 million for the single-level showrooms.

422-430 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne.Credit:

“We are currently focusing on larger projects and the sale of this site will enable us to allocate resources effectively to those developments,” Amber chief Rachael Brady said.

The company is currently building a new $250 million 18-level hotel in Geelong. Construction costs and land tax is putting many development sites back on the market.

JLL’s Radisich, Josh Rutman, Mark Stafford and MingXuan Li are selling the site.

The Johnston Street skyline is changing fast, with new buildings, including DCF’s New Johnston on the rise. The majestic Tarantos shoe shop on the corner of Lulie Street was quickly demolished after settlement a few months ago.

Nice discount

A local investor snared 410 Lonsdale Street for $6.8 million this week at a nice discount from the five-level building’s original $8 million – $9 million quote.

It was third-time lucky for the vendors, who had paid $4.85 million in 2009 but missed the market peak for CBD property deals when they put it back on the market in 2021 and 2022.

410 Lonsdale Street.

Formerly PRD House, the 978 sq m B-grade building is on a 209 sq m site and has three basement car parks.

Cushman & Wakefield agents Daniel Wolman, Anthony Kirwan, George Davies, Leon Ma and Raphael Favas got the transaction done.

Bank boozer

Pub yields may have been reset this week by the bumper $10.7 million sale of the Fargo & Co venue in Richmond.

A private local investor beat a clutch of rivals, including a party from Sydney, to buy the Swan Street property, which has a 10-year lease to Australian Venue Co.

The price, only slightly higher than Charter Hall’s purchase of nearby Harlow, reflected a 4.4 per cent yield – much sharper than the 5.9 per cent yield paid for Harlow.

Fargo & Co at 214-216 Swan Street, Richmond

Eight bids were made for 214-216 Swan Street, a former historic State Savings Bank building which was sold by the Commonwealth Bank in 2014 for $3.31 million.

AVC pays about $500,000 a year in rent for the two-storey 542 sq m building. Stonebridge agents Nic Hage, Rorey James, Kevin Tong and Max Warren did the deal.

And in Balaclava, another former Commonwealth Bank building at 282-284 Carlisle Street sold at auction for $4 million after a six-pronged contest which reflected an even sharper 4.25 per cent yield.

An off-shore investor snapped up the 325 sq m corner property which is leased to the Commune Group-owned Moonhouse.

282 Carlisle Street, Balaclava.

Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi, Tom Fisher and Ben Liu handled the auction.

Luxury cars

Luxury car dealer Srecko Lorbek has snapped up the old Beaurepaires site on Kings Way, South Melbourne for a new Lorbek Luxury Cars showroom.

Lorbek is planning to build a new multi-level glass showroom on the 763 sq m site at 162-174 Coventry Street, dedicated to the sale of electric cars.

He has two other dealerships, one in Port Melbourne and a second in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney but he is keenest on the Kings Way site which is exposed to 30 million car trips a year.

“This is an awesome addition to the Lorbek property portfolio. It’s a really strategic site,” Lorbek told Capital Gain.

Srecko Lorbek outside his new purchase on Kings Way.

He sells 75 per cent of cars online but said showrooms are important for marketing and servicing.

“It’s because of our sites that people know who we are.”

“It will be a fully electric building with EV charging infrastructure and powered by our GET system.”

The transaction was handled by Stonebridge’s James, Dylan Kilner and Chao Zhang, with Premier Commercial’s Jason Perry.

James said four unconditional offers were made for the property on the busy road.

“It really was the perfect time to buy because there’s not really any competition from developers,” he said.

Lorbek and the agents declined to reveal the price, which is believed to have come in at more than $6 million.

Next door is 210 Kings Way, a five-level office building which previously housed a Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce showroom on the ground floor.

That building was once owned by former bankrupt mining magnate, Joseph “Diamond Joe” Gutnick – who was recently banned by ASIC from running companies until 2028. It last sold in 2018 (by investor Barry Norman) to a Chinese-capital backed investor for $32 million.

And in 2019, online retailer Rus Kogan paid $8.088 million for a three-storey office building down the road at 100 Park Street, which is on a 517 sq m parcel of land.

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