RetailThu 17 May 18

Toy Company Boss Snaps Up Balaclava Commercial Block

Melbourne’s landmark Beller House in Carlisle Street, Balaclava, has been sold for $22.2 million on a sub 4 per cent yield, which represents an almost $4 million gain on its purchase price in late 2015.

The buyer of the commercial building, known as Carlisle Corner, is believed to be businessman Paul Solomon, in what is understood to be a long-term land banking play.

Paul Solomon is the chief executive of Moose Toys, the fifth-biggest toy manufacturer in both the US and Australia.

The sale represented more than $8,000 a square metre on land and $7,000 per square metre on the building and was sold subject to 18 tenancies contributing to an annual rental income of circa $1.09 million.

The building, built in 1973 and with 22 car parking spaces is zoned Commercial 1, which allows businesses including accommodation, child care centres and offices to operate on the site.

Current tenants of the two and three-level retail and office building include a gym, medical centres and a restaurant.

Prior to the 2015 sale for $18.5 million it changed hands just a year earlier for $12.5 million.

The 3500sq m building at 281A-289 Carlisle Street is on a 2720sq m parcel of land at the entrance to the vibrant Balaclava retail strip.

Wizel said last month that there was “massive potential” to build a mixed-use development on the site, with the area having undergone major gentrification and apartment development in the past few years.

He said suburban strip retail properties in Melbourne are in demand from local, interstate and offshore developers, especially assets with strong land value, national retailer tenants and proximity to public transport.

The recent acquisition of a Coles supermarket in the Victorian suburb of Clayton has broken sales records after selling to a private investor for a price representing a 2.57 per cent yield.

The Clayton sale at $17.115 million represented a substantial price premium from listing guide of the sub-$10 million range.

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