Cuckoo buyer wanted for popular $4m Dandenongs restaurant

The former tearoom in the Dandenong Ranges where the Bavarian-themed Cuckoo restaurant laid out smorgasbords and steins for more than 65 years is up for sale.

The much-loved restaurant at 508 Mount Dandenong Tourist Road closed in 2020 during the pandemic and briefly re-opened last year under new owner Eric Walters.

The Cuckoo in the Dandenongs has been a favourite for generations.Credit:

The tearoom was bought in 1958 by Willi and Karin Koeppen, who transformed it into a 450-seat chalet-style restaurant with a strong Alpine theme.

It is also the scene of a genuine local cold case. In February 1976, the Berlin-born Willi disappeared after a fractious night at the restaurant.

Records show the Koeppen family sold the building in 2022 for $1.99 million.

Colliers agents Lucas Soccio, and James Zhuang with Bell Real Estate’s Elliot Bell are handling enquiries, and expect more than $4 million for the vacant property.

It’s on a 3.87 hectare parcel of land with parking for more than 400 cars and includes a fully functional hospitality fit-out and a caretaker’s cottage.

Toyota takes off

Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has cut another tie with Port Melbourne, moving out of its Bertie Street research and design centre and listing it for sale at around $50 million.

The first Toyota car assembled outside of Japan was built in Port Melbourne in 1963 but manufacturing moved to Altona in 1994 and ceased altogether in Australia in 2017.

Sources in Port Melbourne say Toyota moved out of 61 Bertie Street, on the corner of Fennell Street, in April. Its corporate headquarters remain down the road at 155 Bertie Street under the Westgate’s outbound lanes.

Both Toyota and Holden had engineering and manufacturing premises in Fishermans Bend.Credit: Joe Armao

There are showrooms, warehouses and office space covering 11,590 square metres on the almost two-hectare site. CBRE’s Trent Hobart, Matthew Romanin, Andrew Bell and Tom Ryan have the listing.

The building in the troubled Fishermen’s Bend precinct, an area which has been earmarked for urban redevelopment, but the lack of planning clarity and a promised but unrealised light rail line have stalled any action.

Last week, the Allen government announced Fishermen’s Bend will get a new underground railway station at some unknown point in the future.

It was once a hotbed of automotive manufacturing, but Holden shut down about the same time as Toyota and sold its 37 hectare site on Salmon Street to the state government. The University of Melbourne is poised to start work on a new campus on part of the site.

Nearby in Normanby

There are still plenty of car dealerships in the area. Nearby, at 213-217 Normanby Road, South Melbourne, half of the Melbourne City Toyota showroom is for sale.

The 1500 sq m showroom is on an 1865 sq m site sitting between two other properties, which are also leased by Melbourne City Toyota, but owned by separate landlords.

It’s an awkward situation. The lease on this property expires in two years, while the neighbours have options to extend.

Tiga Commercial agents Griffin Barrett, David Sia and Martin Leong have the listing. It’s expected to sell for more than $8 million.

Rodd & Gunn

Men’s fashion retailer Rodd & Gunn is making its first move into Melbourne’s shopping strips with a plum position in Brighton.

The high-end outfitter is opening at 82 Church Street in the former Kookai shop, which has moved to a bigger store down the road.

Fitzroys agents Mark Talbot and Tom Fisher negotiated a five-year lease on the 189 sq m shop. Rodd & Gunn will pay $150,000 a year plus outgoings on the stoop.

Church Street has the tightest vacancy rate in Melbourne and was sitting at 1.1 per cent according to Fitzroys’ Walk the Strip report. “This deal takes the strip to all but fully-leased,” Fisher said.

Boot factory

Banco Group has snapped up the Old Collingwood Boot Factory at 64 Wellington Street. The 1336 sq m building is in the heart of the fringe suburb’s new office precinct, across the road from Impact Investment’s 54 Wellington Street tower and down the street from Hines’ new timber office at No.36.

The two-storey double-storey factory dates back to 1895 and is listed as significant on the Victorian Heritage Database. It was built by bootmaker William Peatt over an older factory on the site. Collingwood and Abbotsford were full of boot factories during this period because they were close to the tanneries on the Yarra River.

Records show the vendors paid just $41,000 for the property in 1981. Banco Properties lodged a caveat last week indicating they are the buyer.

Banco Group has snapped up the Old Collingwood Boot Factory at 64 Wellington Street.Credit:

It’s understood the price was around $9 million but Stonebridge agents Dylan Kilner, Max Warren, Julian White and Chao Zhang, who negotiated the deal, declined to confirm the price. Seven offers were made for the historic property.

In Carlton, the Stonebridge team also sold 221 Drummond Street under instructions by liquidators to the Pistorino Group.

The 1555 sq m two-storey building fetched $6.6 million after attracting six offers. It was sold to a buyer sourced by Zhang’s Asia Practice team.

It’s on the corner of Grattan Street and has been mooted for possible heritage protection. It was designed for the Church of England in 1986-87 by Steve Ashton and Howard Raggatt, who later formed two-thirds of prominent architectural practice Ashton Raggatt McDougall, or ARM.

Slade sells

An offshore Asian investor has made their first foray into the Australian property market with the $8.91 million purchase of Slade Health’s head office in Mount Waverley.

Records show the building’s vendor, founder David Slade, paid $3.5 million in 2017. Slade Health, a subsidiary of Icon Health, is the largest dedicated cancer care-provider in Australia.

Slade pays $506,550 a year in rent for the 5028 sq m property, giving the deal a 5.6 per cent yield.

Stonebridge’s Kilner, Warren and Zhang negotiated the deal.

In Noble Park, a local investor will pay $7.01 million for the Kez’s Kitchen biscuit factory at 474-478 Princess Highway.

Kez’s Kitchen has been baking bickies on the site for 25 years and has an option to stick around for three more years.

The 3361 sq m office-warehouse is on a 4795 sq m parcel of land on the corner of Overseas Drive.

The property returns $376,049 a year, so the deal reflects a yield of 5.3 per cent.

Teska Carson agent Michael Taylor, who handled the sale with Michael Ludski, said four offers were made for the property, with the buyer outbidding potential owner-occupiers.

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