Seven years since it was ravaged by fire - which was a month after the local council permitted it for redevelopment - the enormous waterfront parcel regarded as Phillip Island's best site is finding its way into the hands of a new owner.
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South Yarra-based aged care provider John Matthies is paying a figure speculated to be in excess of $10 million for the vacant tract of land, which for decades accommodated the Isle of Wight pub.
The 8625-square-metre Cowes site was offered without a permit - but in 2010 was approved to make way for a contentious $180 million, nine-level hotel resort, which would have been the tallest building on the island, a popular holiday hamlet about a two-hour drive south-east of the CBD.
Covering 9-10 The Esplanade and 2-8 Bass Avenue, the prime site is opposite Cowes Jetty and Erehwon Point Reserve and near the corner of Thompson Avenue, the island's main retail thoroughfare.
Only a few years ago Mr Matthies replaced Phillip Island's former Banfields Cinema, not far from the Isle of Wight site, with a low-rise retirement village.
In February, he sold a 7904-square-metre block forming a South Yarra bluff to apartment builder Sterling Global for more than $40 million. The director of Australian Aged Care Group reportedly spent $25 million over five years amalgamating the eight South Yarra properties before listing it for sale.
Two south-east churches sold
Churches have reaped nearly $10 million by offloading two sites in Melbourne's south east.
In Mulgrave, Enjoy Church is banking $5.6 million from the sale of 2263-2267 Dandenong Road to a residential developer with offshore financial backing. The 5900-square-metre block was marketed by CBRE's David Minty, Todd Grima and Josh Twelftree.
"There is such an insatiable market appetite for large suburban residential infill landholdings capable of delivering a sizeable townhouse development outcome, which is being driven by the confidence in the townhouse presales market," Mr Minty said of the off-market campaign.
Meanwhile, the Burwood-Mount Waverley Church of Christ at 280 Highbury Road will make way for a childcare centre after selling for just over $4 million. Jellis Craig's Sam Macaluso marketed this 2512-square-metre Mount Waverley parcel, which contains three buildings.
A childcare operator also paid the secretive Plymouth Brethren $2.6 million for a former Werribee church last July.
The Uniting Church recently announced it would sell 65 properties, worth some $80 million, to finance a $1 billion spend earmarked for 200 of its other projects.
Shell lists ex-city fringe servo
Petroleum giant Shell can expect more than $14 million, sources speculate, from the sale of an ex-service station near the north-west tip of the CBD.
The 1070-square-metre block at 404-418 Spencer Street, on the north-east corner of Batman Street, has been a vacant tract of land for more than eight years.
The West Melbourne site is expected to wind up in the hands of a developer, given recent planning approvals in the area. In 2015, local developer Vicland paid $29 million for the 2250-square-metre site next door with a permit for a 38-level apartment building containing 438 dwellings.
Private college Haileybury recently opened a new campus on a nearby site it bought for about $52 million in March 2015.
Jones Lang LaSalle's Lincoln Reynolds and Marcus Quinn are representing Shell.
Pink Palace latest brothel offering
It may be the end for another inner-city sex venue, with the owners of the South Melbourne building occupied by the Pink Palace brothel listing their asset for sale.
The 908-square-metre block at 8-16 Palmerston Crescent, on the north-east corner of Kings Place, is being marketed to developers with vacant possession, but also to investors, with the opportunity for the venue to renew.
Currently configured as a low-rise building beside an open-air car park, the property is expected to sell for more than $16 million, sources say. The site is near the proposed Domain train station, part of the Melbourne Metro Rail Project, which recently started construction.
Five months ago, the city's first transsexual brothel the Pleasuredome, which opened in the late 1990s in Gladstone Street, South Melbourne, was sold by that business' operator, Ivan Gneil, who said he hoped the next owner would shut the venue down.
In the CBD, adult industry entrepreneur Joseph Sobota sold the Dendy Adult Cinema and Club X in Coverlid Place, while developer Grollo bought the Showgirls Bar 20 venue at 46 King Street, abutting its Rialto complex.
In November, Tony Huang of Auyin Developments paid $12.7 million for Elsternwick's former Daily Planet venue.
Also that month, a purpose-built complex trading as Whispers Playhouse, in Hoppers Crossing, was recorded as sold. In an industrial area (where they often are), the 520-square-metre facility sits on an 807-square-metre parcel and returns $130,000 a year as part of a new five-year lease.
Menzies profits selling Little Lonsdale building
Before a crowd of about 100, a former factory in the CBD sold at auction for $6.625 million - a $1.625 million rise on the price it last traded for, three years ago.
The 1923 red brick building at 563-567 Little Lonsdale Street was offered with vacant possession by interests associated with the Menzies Institute training group. CBRE's Paul Tzamalis, Nick Lower, Josh Rutman and Lewis Tong sold the site with airspace redevelopment potential to a syndicate of local and offshore investors.
Prominent Fitzroy corner fetches $7.6m
An investor has paid just over $7.6 million for one of the inner north's most prominent corners.
A two-level building, tenanted for years by bedroom furniture retailer Snooze, occupies 368-370 Nicholson Street, at the south-east corner of Alexandra Avenue - the busy thoroughfare that connects the Eastern and Tullamarine freeways.
Zoned Fitzroy, the site is at the intersection where three other suburbs meet: Carlton, Carlton North and Fitzroy North.
As well as the Snooze franchise, advertiser APN Outdoor is a rent-payer, controlling a giant display on the roof.
The building returns $327,000 annually and sold on a low yield of 4.3 per cent. On a 1555-square-metre block, the asset can be considered for high-density redevelopment after the last lease ends in 2021.
Frank Vinci and Joseph Carbone of agency Vinci Carbone said the property generated 115 inquiries from a mix of investors and developers. Five bidders vied for the property before a large crowd at last week's auction.
Email: marcpallisco@gmail.com
Twitter: @marcpallisco
