Rich-lister Robert Magid has pocketed $50 million after another local developer cleaned the negotiating table with its offer to acquire one of Melbourne’s most iconic buildings.
Time & Place has secured the 59-room Hotel Lindrum at 26-30 Flinders Street with a permit in place for a 30-level mixed-use hotel and residential project.
The building became a local landmark as Lindrum’s billiards centre in the 1970s and 1980s, run by the niece of Walter Lindrum—one of the world’s greatest professional players who dominated the game from 1933 to 1950.
It was revamped by Magid and is currently occupied by an Accor M-Gallery hotel that retains a link to its past with one of the original and restored full-sized billiard tables.
More than 200 inquiries were fielded from local, interstate and overseas potential buyers during the sales campaign resulting in several formal offers.
The deal is part of a sell down of boutique hospitality assets by the hotelier, property developer and investor, who took over the asset in the Melbourne CBD’s east end from Cbus Property in 2008.
Dating back to 1900, the refurbished red brick building was one of the city’s first examples of Romanesque Revival architecture and originally housed the headquarters and warehouse of Griffith Bros Tea Merchants.
In the 1920s, it was leased to Verona Press and became a printing headquarters before gaining notoriety as Lindrum’s billiards centre.
With one of the city’s most iconic facades, which will be retained in the future development play, it was converted to a hotel in 1999.
Time & Place will review the existing plans and has not ruled out the inclusion of an office component based on its experience at nearby Victoria Place and another office project in Sydney’s Alexandria.
“The Lindrum is one of Melbourne CBD’s most recognised buildings,” Time & Place director Tim Price said.
“It sits front row at the eastern end of the city, and next to one of [architect Harry] Seidler’s most cherished buildings and possibly in the most desirable CBD blocks.
“We see real value in the Parliament Precinct, being the eastern end of the CBD right into East Melbourne. The intersection of the sporting precinct, CBD and East Melbourne’s historical terrace homes makes it a quintessentially Melbourne location and we love being a part of the area’s next iteration.
“Our development philosophy is centred around making places, not properties, so the opportunity to acquire and breathe new life into Hotel Lindrum, which has such a rich history, was one we couldn’t pass up.”
JLL’s Josh Rutman and Peter Harper took the Hotel Lindrum to the market along with colleagues Nick MacFie and Mingxuan Li.
“Hotel Lindrum is one of Melbourne’s most recognised buildings and will now become one of the city’s first major revitalisation developments for 2022,” Rutman said.
“The depth of interest in such a high-quality offering was not surprising, however we were taken aback by the number of new market entrants who flagged their intention to buy the property.”
Hotel Lindrum is the latest example of primely positioned hotel buildings being sold for major redevelopment or repositioning.
Harper said the sale highlights a trend in the sector where the underlying land value points to a higher and better use.
“Developers and alternative use players are looking to capitalise on the redevelopment or conversion value that assets offer, which is particularly the case in Melbourne where the volume of stock in the current new supply cycle will make it very difficult for some existing hotels to remain competitive and profitable.”
“Having said that, Hotel Lindrum also attracted considerable interest and bids from a range of hotel investors that wanted to reposition the asset into one of Australia’s preeminent luxury boutique hotels.
“Given the various levels of uncertainty that exist as markets move through the post-Covid recovery phase, there is a clear focus on location, quality of build and value-add potential when investors are reviewing investment opportunities. Hotel Lindrum ticked all these boxes,” he said.
