Little shopping village smashes Toorak price record

A Toorak village shopping arcade has well and truly become the most expensive property to sell in the exclusive suburb, almost doubling the previous record.

Village Walk, a double-storey mall at 485-505 Toorak Rd, fetched a whopping $80 million in an off-market sale to developer Bill McNee of Vicland Property Group.

Selling agent Brett Duncan, a director at Matthews Lincoln, could not confirm the “confidential” price, but says the deal is the biggest property transaction Toorak had ever seen.

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CoreLogic records show the sale eclipsed the $45 million earned by another Toorak Rd retail property, at No. 443-449, in October.

The suburb’s residential record belongs to a French-inspired mansion snapped up by Kogan.com founder and chief executive Ruslan Kogan for $38.8 million in April 2018.

Village Walk sold to Vicland Property Group’s Bill McNee.

A vacant block of land that was once the site of a grand mansion at 16 St Georges Rd is also on the market for $40-$44 million.

Duncan says the almost 2800sqm Village Walk comprised 46 tenanted shops and office spaces, plus a car park, and had been held by vendors the Allen family for 65 years.

“It was a very rare opportunity, given how long it had been in the family,” he says.

Its shops included Haigh’s Chocolates, Toorak Fine Watches, N&T Cafe and several fashion outlets.

Duncan says McNee is “looking at his options” for the site. These included potentially developing it into a multiple-level mixed-use precinct with boutique shops, offices, apartments, restaurants and cafes.

The property also features a car park with frontage to Jackson St.

“He (wants to) try to get Toorak Village going again,” the agent, who specialises in off-market deals, says.

He says the property offers “probably the biggest frontage in Toorak Village” of about 40m, and is accessible from both Toorak Rd and Jackson St.

McNee’s Vicland is also developing a $185 million residential and commercial tower in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, and has two major projects underway in South Yarra.

He paid $12.6 million last year for a three-level car park adjoining the Jam Factory, at 11 Wilson St, which he’s developing into office space.

And Vicland is constructing a mixed-used complex in the “airspace” above the train lines opposite South Yarra train station.

This article from the Herald Sun originally appeared as “Toorak village shopping arcade destroys suburb property price record”.