Queens Rd car park to become investor battleground

With the number of car parking spaces in Melbourne’s inner city continuing to dwindle, the sale of more than 500 of them below an office complex on St Kilda Rd is set to spark investor interest.

The underground car park at 1 Queens Rd lies below what was once the TAB’s headquarters, with developers the Deague family having bought the building in the 1970s and developed it into a bustling commercial hub.

But it’s the 544 parking spaces underneath that could prove to be among Melbourne’s hottest properties, with the pending development of an adjacent multi-level car park into a residential tower to strip 447 spaces out of the immediate precinct.

Commercial Insights: Subscribe to receive the latest news and updates

In February VCAT granted a permit for Chinese-backed developer Wuzhong International to build a 19-storey residential tower with 213 apartments on the site at 2 Bowen Crescent, with the multi-level car park to be torn down to make way for it.

The Deague family have now moved to sell the car park component of their tower across the road.

The car park can accommodate 544 cars, with the potential to expand to more than 600.

The car park currently earns $1.6 million annually from its 544 car bays, with the potential to expand the number of bays to more than 600.

With car parking in Melbourne’s inner city at an all-time premium, CBRE’s Mark Wizel, who is marketing the property with colleagues Nathan Mufale and Thomas Mosca, as well as Knight Frank’s Martin O’Sullivan, George Burbury and Jazmyn Walkin, says heavy interest is expected.

“1 Queens Rd is a highly valuable commercial car park, located in one of Melbourne’s strongest performing commercial centre, Wizel says.

“With the capacity to park well in excess of 600 cars at any given time, the strategic location of this asset will underwrite its success in the marketplace for many years to come.”

The site is being sold via international expressions of interest, which close Wednesday, June 28.