This was published 4 months ago
Star chef adds laneway to multimillion restaurant property empire
Restaurateur Chris Lucas is building a tidy property portfolio to underpin his hospitality empire, which extends from Society on Collins Street to the Hotel Sorrento and two venues under construction at the top of Bourke Street.
His latest proposed purchase is a wee laneway at the back of 19-29 Bourke Street, behind the Windsor Hotel, where he is building French bistro Batard.
Chris Lucas at the site of Batard, in Bourke Street.
The City of Melbourne has advertised the proposed discontinuance of the 35 square-metre lane and a purchase price of $725,000 which equates to $20,714 per square metre.
Not that anyone could use it right now. Lucas has gutted the insides of 19-29 Bourke Street and the lane is roped off as part of the extensive $10 million-plus works.
But records show Lucas has also bought the other property abutting the laneway, at 27 Windsor Place.
That three-level building, one of the CBD’s oldest existing houses, was bought in 2022 for $5.79 million from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, through agents JLL.
Lucas bought 27 Windsor Place from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust.
The Lucas Group declined to comment on its plans for the laneway and the extra building and how they might connect with Batard. The move may be an expensive rearguard action to defend against future complaints during the messy construction period.
Lucas’ other deals in the precinct, struck off-market during the pandemic, include the former Society restaurant at 23-29 Bourke – bought for $7.2 million – and its neighbour at No.19-21 for which he paid $5.9 million.
That’s a total $18.89 million. 558 square metres of prized Bourke Hill land. Add the $725,000 for the lane and that totals $19.61 million, or $35,143 per square metre.
Last year, he also bought 175 Flinders Lane, where his restaurant Kisume is housed, for $23.5 million.
With a slate of top restaurants and a big property portfolio to manage, it’s no wonder Lucas also needed two office floors of Golden Age’s strata project at 130 Little Collins Street – a $13 million purchase made after the Bourke Street acquisitions.
Marine Hotel
The Buxton Group has snapped up the Marine Hotel in Brighton, paying a bumper $22.65 million for the land rich pub.
The hotel, which closed last year after a long history dating back to the early Gold Rush era, is unlikely to remain a watering hole. Built in 1856, the celebrated 19th century poet Adam Lindsay Gordon, was one of its patrons.
Marine Hotel BrightonCredit:
Buxton Group managing director Samantha Buxton described the pub as an “important cornerstone landmark in Brighton.”
“It is early days and we are currently exploring various options for the site, including retaining its historical use in some way,” Buxton said.
The Buxton family, which has several different strands involved in property, have been longtime residents and developers in Brighton and the bayside area.
The deal was negotiated by Gorman Commercial’s Jonathon McCormack and Stephen Gorman with Vinci Carbone’s Frank Vinci and Joseph Carbone.
The vendor paid $15.8 million for the pub at 199-217 New Street in 2018 and had expected more than $18 million in the resale.
The property is on a large 4670 square-metre site near the beach and not far from Xavier College’s 32,000 square-metre Kostka Hall which Golden Age bought for $100 million in 2022.
Telstra’s exchange
Telco giant Telstra has offloaded two of its exchanges in the leafy eastern suburbs.
The former Armadale post office sold to developer Up Property for nearly $7 million and the Camberwell junction exchange fetched $6.3 million.
Telstra has already sold off thousands of small exchanges which were dotted through the Australian suburbs.
Once the connection point for all telephones - in the days when copper ruled poles and wires, - the suburban exchanges are now increasingly redundant. Consider this your reminder that telecommunication companies are switching off their 3G coverage at the end of June.
That doesn’t mean Telstra has completely given up on them - the exchanges were sold with three-year leasebacks to the telco.
The two-storey Armadale post office at 8 Llaneast Street is on 1111 square metres of land off Glenferrie Road in the blue chip retail strip.
Julian White, Max Warren, and Chao Zhang of Stonebridge Property Group handled negotiations, with Charter Keck Cramer representing Telstra in both deals.
An offshore Asian investor is land banking the 1345 square-metre site at 80 Camberwell Road in East Hawthorn.
Gross Waddell ICR’s Danny Clark, Alex Ham, Andrew Greenaway and Glenn Ye handled that deal.
Bellarine boutique
Terindah Estate, the award-winning boutique Bellarine Peninsula vineyard is on the market with a price tag of more than $15 million.
Just shy of 40 hectares at 90 McAdams Lane, the estate has multiple dining, entertaining and wedding spaces with views across the bay to Melbourne’s CBD. The vines take up 5.73 hectares on the estate.
The vineyard was established in 2000 by the late Peter Slattery and his wife, Cate, after he retired from an illustrious career as one of Melbourne’s top quantity surveyors. Their children, Sarah and Josh Slattery, now run the property and construction advisory firm, Slattery.
Savills agents Julian Heatherich and Benson Zhou, with Elders’ Nick Myer, are running expressions of interest, with Advise Transact’s Mark Wizel and Lewis Tong acting for the vendor.
Terindah Estate, Bellarine Peninsula
It’s magic
The Magic Car Wash opposite La Trobe University has sold for $4.05 million, on a yield of 5 per cent, before its public sales campaign even got underway.
An investor bought the property which is on a 1370 square-metre parcel of land at 1007-1009 Plenty Road, next door to McDonald’s.
Indeed, records show the vendor was local Macca’s franchise holder Heath Fitzgerald, whose family runs more than 10 McDonald’s restaurants around the north-eastern suburbs.
The freehold of the McDonald’s at 1011-1017 Plenty Road has been owned by McDonald’s Properties since it was built in 1999.
The off-market sales process kicked off with the erection of a sale sign on the busy strip three weeks before a campaign was due to start.
Stonebridge Property Group agent Max Warren, who did the deal with Rorey James and Dylan Kilner, said they received three offers, with the buyer committing to a 30-day settlement.
This stretch of Plenty Road is about to get even busier, with La Trobe University planning a $5 billion redevelopment of the 235-hectare campus.
Infrastructure investor Plenary has been announced as the university’s development partner in the project, which involves apartments, a new town centre, a hospital to be operated by Healthscope. The new Sports Park is already home to Football Victoria and the Matildas.
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