Developers Keep Options Open After $50m Spend

Luxury car dealer Nick Theodossi and property developer Ross Pelligra have splashed $50 million in an off-market deal for Inchcape Australia’s flagship Subaru dealership at Port Melbourne.

The sale of the 1.8ha Lorimer Street site has been billed as one of the most “significant” in the Fishermans Bend precinct in recent years.

Nick Theodossi said they would initially look to partially occupy or lease the site's existing improvements while “looking at options to unlock the development potential of the vacant car park”.

“We will consider occupying part of the site, or look to capitalise on strong demand from a number of automotive brands seeking premises in the city fringe which is becoming increasingly more difficult to find,” Theodossi said.

“We will remain flexible to achieve the best outcome.”

The $500-million deal was brokered by Dawkins Occhiuto.

Director Walter Occhiuto said the property offered substantial improvements with an opportunity to develop or reposition.

“This is without doubt one of the most astute and significant transactions in this precinct in a number of years,” he said.

“The property is a generational asset given its scale, profile and its proximity to the Melbourne CBD, which is less than 1.5kms away.”

The Victorian government has invested almost $180 million to transform the former Holden factory site at Fishermans Bend into an innovation precinct.

Development Victoria bought the 32ha site in 2017 and remediation works are under way for it to become the central point of the 230ha Fishermans Bend Employment Precinct, where tech firms including Boeing and Siemens are already based.

Co-owner Ross Pelligra said they wanted to create a project that was in line with the aims of the broader employment precinct.

“We are looking to create an innovative project around live, work and play, and aligning ourselves with the government’s vision of delivering a sustainable and eco-friendly precinct that will provide jobs and accommodation for generations to come,’’ Pelligra said.

The site also has frontages to Hartley and Boundary streets as well as Capital City zoning, which would allow multi-storey residential towers on the site.

Pelligra has quite a few irons in the fire this year after Pelligra Group lodged plans for a $39-million Holiday Inn at Richmond, and Pelligra's Family Trust entered a joint venture to acquire a 1.1-hectare site in Byron Bay.