Luxury hotels interested in buying up 21-storey Melbourne police station
The 21-level police station at 412 St Kilda Rd is up for sale. Source: Supplied
FROM cop shop to luxury hotel.
It may sound unlikely, but the Victoria Police crime department headquarters in St Kilda road are up for sale — and luxury hotels are among the interested parties.
The 21-storey cop shop at 412 St Kilda Rd has had some of Melbourne’s best and worst, from both sides of the law, under its roof over the years.
Among them have been criminals from Melbourne’s underworld and the likes of retired homicide squad member Charlie Bezzina.
But if groups including the Four Seasons and St Regis are successful it could become a high-end hotel to some of the Asia-Pacific regions wealthiest.
With the Victoria Police lease set to expire in mid-2016, the prime property is now at the centre of a $50 million-plus bidding war between a growing number of prospective buyers that opened with the property officially hitting the market yesterday.
Advertised as “Blue Ribbon” as an “unassailable” corner building by Melbourne based CBRE and Dawkins Occhiuoto in South Yarra the property has a hefty 16,285sq m of lettable space, as well as a seven-level car park and triple street-frontage in a tree-lined location near the Shrine of Remembrance and Botanic Gardens.
“It wouldn’t surprise me to see it converted into a residential development and we have already had several approaches from six-star hotels looking for a foothold opportunity,” said CBRE’s Mark Wizel.
“Most of the interest at this stage from a local perspective has been for commercial office use, but from offshore is mostly high-end residential.”
If the site were turned into luxury apartments a full-floor penthouse could be worth up to $12 or $15 million, according to Mr Wizel.
The property is to be sold by an expressions of interest campaign ending on July 31 at 4pm.
