New Lease Of Life For Historic Melbourne Maltstore

Real estate company Grocon has sold the heritage listed Maltstore building in Melbourne’s CBD to a private investment syndicate from Singapore.

CBRE Melbourne City Sales agents Josh Rutman, Tom Tuxworth and Mark Wizel negotiated the sale of the 551 Swanston Street office and retail property, which forms part of the Swanston Square precinct on the former Carlton and United Brewery site.

While the price has not been disclosed due to confidentiality agreements, Mr Tuxworth said the deal represented the largest ever sale of a vacant freestanding strata building in Melbourne.

“The sales campaign presented an opportunity to acquire an iconic Melbourne building, which has been transformed into a state-of-the-art retail and office complex,” Mr Tuxworth said.

“We were delighted with the market's response to the international sales campaign and the genuine appetite being shown to invest in properties in the northern CBD area and surrounding education precinct.”

CBRE’s Josh Rutman said investors have been starved of opportunities in the sub $30 million Melbourne CBD investment market in 2014/2015.

“Whilst the Maltstore presented some challenges given its restrictive heritage status and strata-titled nature, the opportunity to effectively own a freestanding building between RMIT and Melbourne University was something that appealed to a range of local and offshore groups,” he said.

Grocon, together with builder Probuild, recently restored the 100-year-old Maltstore.

It is understood the buyer intends to lease out the five-level building - and hold on to it for the longer-term - after receiving numerous approaches from retail and office tenants for the space.