Capital Gain
Itā€™s rare when a shop in Melbourneā€™s historic Royal Arcade comes up for sale, let alone two, and itā€™s been 20 years since any have changed hands.
But with the Bourke Street Mall undergoing a Mecca-led renaissance, the Koko Black shop and the Love It Jewellery store in the Arcade are on the market.
The 102.5-square-metre Koko Black store, part owned by Block Arcade-owner Trevor Cohen, is close to the entrance and expected to fetch between $3 million to $3.5 million. It last sold in 2005 for $1.18 million and returns $202,475 a year in rent.
At the other end of the arcade, under the famous Gog and Magog moving statues, is shop 22 which could sell for more than $1.5 million. Records show it last changed hands in 2006 for $878,000.
The last time any shops in the Charles Webb-designed arcade came up for sale was 2017 when a mall-fronting shop, owned by the Thomas the Jeweller-owning Thomas family, hit the market with a $30 million price tag.
That price proved too high even at the peak of the property market cycle and so the property was later withdrawn.
Allard Shelton agents Joseph Walton, Tony Nguyen and Patrick Barnes are running the campaign.
Speaking of Koko Black, the chocolatier is adding another outlet in central Melbourne after signing a seven-year lease to occupy another Cohen-owned shop on the corner of Collins and Elizabeth streets. The Cohens made their fortune from the Godfreys vacuum cleaner business and are big investors in heritage city properties.
The high-profile 152 sq m shop, which includes a basement level, sits at the foot of the historic Cashmore building. Retail rents in this part of midtown are running between $5500 and $8000 a sq m. Given the location, itā€™s likely Koko Black is paying at the upper end.
Hub Arcade
Trevor Cohen is also busy putting his money to work in a dramatic revamp of the Hub Arcade at 318 Little Collins Street which adjoins the Royal Arcade at its back door.
Cohen has signed a deal with hospitality giant Australian Venue Co to open a new bar on the buildingā€™s second floor and rooftop.
Theirs must be a fruitful relationship. AVC already runs two major St Kilda pubs for the Cohen family ā€“ the Esplanade and the Prince of Wales.
Records show Cohen bought the 1960s-era Hub Arcade for $1.3 million after it passed in at auction for $3.3 million in 1982 ā€“ another bargain snapped up during a recession.
Renamed Midtown, the revamped building will include two shops on the ground floor. Allard Sheltonā€™s Joseph Walton is running a leasing campaign for the shops and the level one space.
After years of grinding building works ā€“ the new Holiday Inn and Hotel Indigo above the Melbourne Walk, Mecca, Rodd & Gunn and the re-opened Collins Lane ā€“ the block is returning to a busy thoroughfare.
While recent foot traffic numbers from the City of Melbourne show Bourke Street Mall shoppers have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic numbers, Capital Gain dodged pedestrians left and right on a walk through the strip this week.
Terraplexā€™s pact
Melbourne property investor Terraplex is offloading the Cremorne headquarters of high-profile corporate heavyweights, 7-Eleven, Mattel and Pact.
The A-grade buildings, known as 1 and 2, sit on the banks of the Yarra, in the Cremorne Business Park at 658 Church Street.
Built in 1997, they cover a total 13,243 sq m, and are likely to fetch around $115 million.
Terraplexā€™s website notes they were purchased 15 years ago for $42 million and carried a value of $151 million back in late 2022 before office values plunged.
But the business park has always attracted big names ā€“ both owners and tenants. Rich-lister Naomi Milgrom owns buildings 8 and 10.
Cushman & Wakefieldā€™s Leigh Melbourne, Nick Rathgeber, Daniel Wolman, Oliver Hay, Mark Hansen and Leon Ma are running the international campaign.
Further east in the Camberwell Junction office precinct, property syndicator Peak Equities has sold its leasehold interest in 250 Camberwell Road.
While agents declined to reveal the price, itā€™s understood the five-level A-grade office building fetched about $22 million. It went up for sale in 2024 with 45 per cent vacancy and a higher asking price and failed to sell. It has fared better after a successful leasing campaign.
The 4954 sq m building earns $2.07 million a year in rent. While that result indicates a soft yield of 9.7 per cent, itā€™s a reflection of the 60-plus years remaining on the buildingā€™s lease to the Melbourne Anglican Trust.
St Johnā€™s Anglican Church is located up the hill behind the office building.
Peak Equities paid $27.5 million for the office in 2017 when it was leased by Priceline. It was built in 2002 as a new office for Penguin Books.
The deal was transacted by Cushman & Wakefieldā€™s Wolman, Hay, Ma and Raphael Favas, along with Gorman Commercialā€™s Peter Bremner and Stephen Gorman.
Three in a row
The long empty Konstantines restaurant on St Georges Road has finally hit the market.
The restaurant at 169-173 St Georges Road, is in the North Fitzroy village, opposite the Edinburgh Gardens and down the road from Piedemonteā€™s supermarket.
Locals say itā€™s been shuttered for at least 15 years. Records show the late Con Siamidis bought the row of three shops in 1994 for $425,000.
It was a recession-era bargain buy which last transacted in 1988 for $500,000. But itā€™s hard to fathom how the 625 sq m property in a plum location could have remained empty for so long.
But the estate of Siamidis, who died in 2021, has been the subject of Supreme Court action for several years and in 2025, the Victorian Court of Appeal ordered Pitcher Partners to sell the lot.
Court documents indicate family members have been storing personal items at many of the portfolioā€™s assets, which include several vacant properties in Brunswick.
The prize of the portfolio is the three-level Melbourne City Mission building at 164-180 Kings Way which is on 3422 sq m of land and could fetch about $20 million. JLL agents are currently reviewing offers but declined to comment on its status.
Gross Waddell ICR Andrew Greenway and Alex Ham, with Australian Professionals Property Service, have the St Georges Road listing, which is expected to sell for more than $2.5 million.
Meanwhile, two of three further properties owned by the family that have sold recently though receivers have locked down the publication of the prices they achieved.
Sources suggest a double-storey property at 483-485 Lygon Street sold for about $3 million through Fitzroys, while its neighbour is still on the market. Another building at 635-637 Sydney Road, marketed by Gross Waddell ICR, is also believed to have fetched around $3 million.
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