Last shops sold at former Larundel mental hospital site
Developer Dealcorp has laid quite a few ghosts to rest since 2008 when it bought the former Larundel mental asylum outside Bundoora, with the latest coup being the sale of the final retail space at Polaris Town Centre.
Rumoured to be haunted before it was closed in the ’90s, parts of the old hospital are being transformed by Dealcorp into stunning apartments.
Polaris, the micro-suburb purpose-built on the grounds of Larundel, 14km north of the CBD, is being marketed as “the Carlton of the north”.
After years of being abandoned, the red brick structure built in the 1930s will exude the type of heritage feel normally found in the inner city.
Adjacent to the original building, new townhouses are springing up and the town centre is also as modern as they come, anchored by Woolworths, Dan Murphy’s and Chemist Warehouse.
Fitzroys agent Chris Kombi, who led sales in the commercial precinct, said the last shop was snapped up by a private investor and was already trading as a Chinese restaurant.
In all, there are 25 shops plus the big anchor retailers and all were sold to investors with five-year leases already in place, Mr Kombi said.
“We began conducting four campaigns late last year so that we did not flood the market with dozens of shops at once,” he said.
Prices ranged between $500,000 and $3 million and yields from 4.8% to 6% on the net passing rents of tenants such as Pizza Hut, Gloria Jean’s and Brown Gouge.
Launched just over a year ago, the $500 million residential project on La Trobe University’s doorstep will comprise about 1500 residences.
About 400 apartments in the old building have been sold and are mostly occupied, with about 150 more under construction and also sold as part of a multi-stage building program that will be mostly medium-density dwellings rather than units.
This article originally appeared in the Herald Sun.
