Architect selling penthouse gem in the heart of Melbourne

The penthouse of Toronto House in Flinders Lane, Melbourne is on the market for the first time to both residential and commercial buyers with offers expected in excess of $4 million.

Close to St Paul’s Cathedral, Federation Square, and the Arts Centre the warehouse apartment spans 344sqm – the entire fifth floor – and is unusually zoned for both residential and commercial use.

For 30 years, renowned architect John Denton and his artist wife Susan Cohn have lived in what is now deemed a rare and large New York loft-style penthouse.

And with a downsize in mind, the warehouse apartment at Level 5, 183-185 Flinders Lane is now up for grabs for the first time.

“It’s a fantastic position,” said professor Denton, a founding director at Denton Corker Marshall whose work includes the Melbourne Museum and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The property makes the most of the natural light and could be used for a commercial venture or as a residential property. Picture: Supplied by Colliers

The pair love the penthouse for its natural light and ventilation via operable windows and 3.7m-ceilings, plus two outdoor terraces, one with views to the Dandenongs.

“We haven’t repainted or done anything, the floor is a sort of terracotta-coloured concrete floor and it’s all part of the character,” said professor Denton.

Colliers, the agents charged with the sale, said only two floors have changed hands in the building’s history, the most recent being Level 2 which sold last year for $3.9 million to a private wealth management firm.

In 1991, professor Denton, as part of a five-owner consortium, bought the 1924 building Toronto House for just $1.575 million following the collapse of the Pyramid Building Society, and the group – including property developer Morry Schwartz – strata-subdivided the floors between them.

The property is on the market for $4 million. Picture: realcommercial.com.au/for-sale

Schwartz’s wife, Anna, took the ground and first floors – which are usually hardest to occupy – and opened a contemporary art gallery, the Anna Schwartz Gallery, still in the same spot today.

Professor Denton was drawn to loft-style living after a trip to New York’s Soho district in the ‘70s.

“They (lofts) were fantastic, they were brilliant things,” he said, recalling his time staying with friends.

Colliers agent Anthony Kirwan said overseas, interstate and local interest in the “enormous property” was strong, with 16 groups through just days into the campaign.

“Warehouse loft-style whole floor properties in Melbourne’s East End are incredibly rare and can be purchased individually in only three buildings,” Mr Kirwan said.

Penthouse access is via two lifts, a passenger and an original brick, timber and iron-clad goods lift with early 1920s-style graffiti etchings.

“The rear lift shaft is original, it’s very New York loft style… there’s a few messages inscribed from staff who used to take this lift up and down every day,” Mr Kirwan added, referring to Toronto House’s former life as a fashion house producing comfortable women’s clothing.

“A bit of history.”

Picture: Supplied by Colliers

REA Group economist Anne Flaherty said she believed this apartment would buck the broader trend in post-COVID Melbourne’s struggling CBD unit market given its location and broad zoning.

She said despite increased vacancies with more people working from home, the penthouse was likely to be “less impacted” by current market conditions given its location on “the most exclusive corner of the CBD”.

“A lot of those properties – they don’t really differentiate from one other – but this particular property, I wouldn’t lump it in with the rest of that apartment stock in the CBD,” she said.

The fact the building is for both for residential and commercial use is “a unique thing,” said Ms Flaherty.

Average CBD Melbourne unit prices indicate a city slowly on the mend, but healing less quickly than metro Melbourne, according to Real Estate Institute of Victoria.

“COVID definitely caused the price growth for units to be slower than houses,” a spokesperson said.

“Also the lack of tourists and international students has prompted more unit owners to list their properties on the traditional rental market instead of short term rental platforms or for sale,” the REIV  spokesperson said.

The median unit price in the CBD has grown at 2.4 % for the year up to the end of April 2021 to $481,500 compared to the median unit price growth of 5.1% across greater Melbourne  to $600,000 for the same period, according to REA Group data.

The views are impressive. Picture: realcommercial.com.au/for-sale

This penthouse apartment also has an incredible outlook providing a bird’s eye view over Melbourne’s restaurant scene – with Supernormal, Kisumé, Hazel and Gimlet “all within 50m”, although during COVID, the streets were empty.

But the city is rapidly regaining life, according to Professor Denton, who going forward will flit between his Yarra Valley vineyard and a new city apartment.

“It certainly was different and it’s now buckling back to what it was, the traffic’s back, everything’s back.”

“Not that we didn’t enjoy it for the time it was quiet.”

Expressions of interest for 183-185 Flinders Lane, which is expected to sell for offers in excess of $4 million, close on June 18.