Green Wedge-zoned truck park hits the market with $8 million price tag - 𝓣𝓸𝓭𝓪𝔂 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽

Capital gain

A big chunk of Green Wedge-zoned land in Dingley Village, currently used as a truck park, is up for sale. But just because the 9.74-hectare parcel has Green Wedge 2 zoning, it doesn’t mean it’s green.

The Melbourne Truck Park has operated on the site at 494-510 Boundary Road for 10 years and keeps parked trucks off the street when they’re not in use.

Melbourne Truck Park at 494-510 Boundary Road, Dingley Village.

Records show the land last changed hands in 2005 for $450,000. Now it’s likely to fetch around $8 million, a seventeenfold increase or a compound annual growth rate of 14.7 per cent. Not bad for a patch of not-so-green dirt.

There are plenty of uses for Green Wedge-zoned land, according to Cushman & Wakefield agent Gareth Jackson, who is selling the property with Kosta Filinis and Allard Shelton’s Joseph Walton and Tony Nguyen.

“Hawthorn Football Club’s new facility nearby is in a Green Wedge zone and so is the Pellicano’s proposed new urban surf centre,” Jackson said.

“We’re seeing strong interest from sophisticated buyers who understand the strategic value. It’s resonating with long‑term land bankers, infrastructure‑linked users and private investors,” he said.

The land is close to major roads, Moorabbin Airport and Pellicano SurfnPlay Aquatic Park.

The Pellicano Group got a permit for the $170 million pool complex in 2024. It’s on a 5.7 hectare site at 321 Old Dandenong Road.

Therapy flip

The new owners of the old Southern School for Natural Therapies buildings in Fitzroy are flipping the site after obtaining a permit for a 10-storey development. The listing comes before the $20 million sale has even settled.

The existing buildings at 25-37 Victoria Street, Fitzroy.

Last year, a joint venture between B&B Property Group’s Stephen and Ben Buxton, and PACASA’s Stefano Paciocco put a caveat over the buildings at 25-37 Victoria Street and applied for a development permit.

Busy with other projects in Prahran and Richmond, the parties are offloading the property with its permit in play, hoping for a price in the low to mid-$20 million range.

The original vendor, the Jacka Foundation, bought the property for $1.53 million in 1996 for its allied health education facility. Its neighbours once housed radio station 3RRR and an arts centre, before being turned into apartments.

The fresh application involved restoring the 1889 Acme Shirt Factory and building a new apartment building above and around it. A separate property at 9 Victoria Street, which is approved for three townhouses, is also up for sale. The combined landholding covers 1617 square metres.

Nearly three-quarters of the apartments have protected CBD views to the south or views to the north over Johnston Street.

Stonebridge Property Group’s Andrew Milligan, Julian White and Chao Zhang are running the expressions of interest campaign.

A render of the proposed apartment project at 25-37 Victoria Street, Fitzroy.

Fitzroy

Around the corner, an investor has bought the Australian Volunteers International headquarters for a price believed to be around $5.7 million.

Aston Commercial’s Jeremy Gruzewski and Joshua Colosimo declined to comment on the deal which sold on a 6.1 per cent yield – a metric which helped estimate the price.

It paid $5.05 million for the 1100 sq m building at 160 Johnston Street in 2018.

AVI, which represents Australians doing development work overseas, sold its previous Fitzroy HQ at 71-75 Argyle Street to the Piccolo group in 2016 for $7.8 million.

AVI’s headquarters at 160 Johnston Street, Fitzroy.

The Johnston Street two-storey office is on one of the city’s hottest development strips.

Across the street, Cobild has applied to the minister for a permit for an 11-storey project for 159-167 Johnston Street. And US giants Pembroke and Greystar are also building an 11-storey development at 155 Johnston Street.

Pavilion

During the pandemic, the old Regan Motor Service garage on Auburn Road, Hawthorn was turned into a hospitality venue, becoming an annexe to the Auburn Hotel.

The $4.3 million renovation at 75-79 Auburn Road was funded by the Auburn Hotel’s operator, Australian Venue Co, and cost almost as much as the property itself.

Records show the Liuzzi Property Group paid $4.2 million for the building in February 2020 – just as Melbourne lurched into lockdown.

The 430 sq m garage, now spruced up and busy with diners and partygoers, is on a large 975 sq m site. AVC has a lease until 2032 and pays $245,863 in rent. The Auburn Hotel has a different landlord.

The Pavilion at 75-79 Auburn Road, Hawthorn, is an annexe to the Auburn Hotel next door.

Vinci Carbone agents Frank Vinci and Joseph Carbone have the listing and are expecting around $4.5 million.

Brighton’s bambini

An investor who has held a Brighton childcare centre for nearly 40 years is putting the property on the market.

The 400 sq m Bambini Early Learning Centre at 75 Wilson Street is on a large 1133 sq m landholding near the Male Street corner.

Bambini has operated the centre for 17 years and has a long lease with options to 2044. It pays $274,760 a year in rent.

75 Wilson Street, Brighton.

The centre is expected to sell for about $4.3 million, which equates to a yield of 6.38 per cent.

Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi, who is handling the listing with Tom Fisher and Ben Liu, said: “This is the ultimate land bank investment opportunity in bayside’s most sought-after pocket.”

Meanwhile, two childcare centres in Geelong sold last month through Stonebridge Property Group’s Rorey James and Kevin Tong. The Imagination Garden centre in Bell Post Hill sold for $9 million on a 5.75 per cent yield, and the Happy Feet Early Learning Centre fetched $5 million on a 6.6 per cent yield.

Meanwhile in Richmond, a vacant childcare centre at 27 Church Street sold within days of hitting the market, for a price believed to be around $5 million.

Offloaded by ASX-listed childcare landlord Arena, the two-storey centre was listed for sale last Friday (May 8) and sold the next Monday.

The 1600 sq m centre is on an 1840 sq m site on the corner of Baker Street, near the intersection of Victoria Street.

While it had been listed for around $9 million when it hit the market last year, this month’s more realistic asking price was around $5 million.

It had been pitched as a potential childcare centre, office or medical centre, and it’s understood a health operator made the swift winning bid.

Records show Arena bought the property in 2014 for $5.26 million. Arena and its selling agents, Stonebridge’s Max Warren, Rorey James and Ian Lam, declined to comment.