Incore buys Stowe’s ex-South Melbourne HQ with 12-level office plan
Incore Developments is paying $6.42 million for a double storey South Melbourne office with plans for another, six times taller.
The 903 square metre Capital City 1 zoned property, 67-69 Buckhurst Street, was purchased from the owners of Stowe Australia, a business which occupied it for 16 years.
The electrical contractor recently relocated to a larger more modern Port Melbourne headquarters at 115-117 Salmon St.
Dixon Kestles’ Simon Regan was appointed mid-year to lease or sell the vacated building (outlined in image, top).
Despite the COVID-19 backdrop, the agent said, seven offers came in to buy it – “five of which were extremely strong”.
Incore is the property division of Symal Group; its portfolio includes residential and commercial buildings and fit-outs.
It is proposing a unique office at Buckhurst St, with a focus on sanctuary and wellness spaces and state-of-the-art technology.
Busy year for South Melbourne office proposals, deals
The Incore project will replace a brick office warehouse constructed by esteemed late builder Andor Schwartz in the 1980s (story continues below).
Last week, the Appel family sold a three level commercial building on 493 sqm at 18 -22 Thomson St, South Melbourne, to Pallas Capital’s Fortis Development Group, for $6.9m.
The same buyer nine months earlier spent $8.6m on a similar asset covering a 592 sqm parcel at 67-69 Palmerston Crescent in the suburb.
Both properties are now earmarked for taller offices.
At 11 Eastern Road, I&D Group owner Ivan Filipovic this week launched a leasing campaign for a nine-storey, 16,044 sqm investment he will start building speculatively later this year and complete by late 2022.
Hickory is also developing a workplace in the area; part of that five-floor, 10,200 sqm asset at 68 Clarke St to be occupied as its headquarters.
The owners of CR Kennedy recently completed a refurbishment of 171-183 Ferrars St – not far from Incore’s new site – and secured Ted’s Cameras and Minimax as occupiers.
Earlier this month Victorian planning minister Richard Wynne permitted a $1 billion-plus Gurner proposal with a 15-level 14,453 sqm office, as well as apartments, retail and a hotel, at a South Melbourne parcel opposite South Wharf.
