Kozminsky jewellers building sets price record
The Giannarelli family has bought the heritage Kozminsky building in the Melbourne CBD for $7.6 million, as values in the city continue to soar.
The building at 421 Bourke St was sold by the Shaw family with vacant possession after the Kozminsky jewellery business closed in February this year.
Canadian giant Brookfield Property Partners did not bid for the building, despite developing a new $800 million office building that will be occupied by NAB on the same block.
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At a public auction attended by around 250 people, more than 10 bidders competed for the three-level corner site, which has 297sqm of net lettable area.
The property was considered on the market at $6.5 million, and the final sale price of nearly $26,000 per square metre is understood to be a new record for a vacant building in the Melbourne CBD. Agents on the deal were CBRE’s Josh Rutman, Nick Lower and Tom Tuxworth.
The former Kozminsky jewellery shop sits on the corner of Bourke and McKillop streets in Melbourne’s CBD.
“We have got an owner who has decided to part with their real estate after 40 years because it is the best time in the market in a long, long time,” Rutman says.
Tony Giannarelli says the family was drawn to the historic nature of the building in the Melbourne CBD.
“We hope to have it for the next 40 years. We have a family of investors and we are just going to keep on buying and buying,” Giannarelli says.
The shopfront could suit a range of uses such as jewellery, fashion, service or food businesses and could also house multiple tenants in the building, CBRE head of Victorian retail leasing Zelman Ainsworth says.
A fresh test of the CBD market will be the sale of 88 Collins St, with expressions of interest set to close later this month.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
