Maxcon placed the caveats over the APH properties on May 24. The builder did not respond to queries about its relationship with APH.

Through a spokesperson, APH said it is “pivoting from our traditional investment approach to an investment-focused business model.”

“We remain committed to delivering our hero projects Wellington Health Box Hill and Irving Domain Box Hill.”

Other APH properties on the market include the former Hewlett Packard office campus on 5.8 hectares at 353-383 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, which could fetch about $90 million, and an office building on 2043 sq m at 440 Elizabeth Street, in the CBD, which has a price tag of $80-85 million. A hotel in South Melbourne and the Box Hill hotel site are also both for sale, each for around $13 million-$14 million.

In February, the company sold the Pakington Strand shopping centre in Geelong for a slim loss of about $31 million, after paying $32 million for it in 2016. APH’s debt has been spread among several financiers, including MaxCap, Metrics and Ark Capital Funds.

Far to go

City cocktail bar State of Grace and Richmond pub Fargo & Co are both on the market. However, it is the properties where they sling their pots and fizz, not the businesses themselves.

The partnership which sold the business several years ago to Australian Venue Co, the country’s second-biggest pub landlord, own the properties.

Both buildings have 10-year leases to AVC, which has more than 200 venues in its portfolio and turns over $1.1 billion a year.

State of Grace cocktail bar occupies the roof, the cellar and a ground-floor restaurant at 27-31 King Street, which is in the old Melbourne Steamship building in the CBD’s nightclub strip.

The seven-level building is fully leased to a range of other tenants and is across the road from the Rialto tower and a host of nightclubs.

On the Flinders Street corner nearby, the Sand Hill Road group, which sold a swag of high-profile hospitality businesses to AVC in 2022, is rebuilding the Waterside Hotel.

Stonebridge agents Julian White, Max Warren, Dylan Kilner and Chao Zhang have the listing and are quoting $15-20 million.

In Richmond, at 214-216 Swan Street, near the Church Street intersection, Fargo & Co occupies a historic State Savings Bank building.

Records show the Commonwealth Bank sold it in 2014 for $3.31 million. Stonebridge agents Nic Hage, Rorey James and Kevin Tong are handling enquiries but are not quoting a price.

However, AVC pays about $500,000 a year in rent, which offers some guidance to its possible value. Recent pub deal yields have ranged from 3.2 per cent to as high as 6.5 per cent. A yield of 5 per cent could give Fargo & CO a price tag of $10 million.

The two-storey 542 sq m building has a 1am licence and can squeeze in 450 patrons. Swan Street has undergone a renaissance in the past 10 years as new apartments brought a new generation of diners and drinkers to the strip.

On Smith Street, Collingwood, which has undergone a similar transformation, hotelier Julien Moussi paid $3.8 million for the Robbie Burns Hotel – unfathomably renamed the Hotel Collingwood – on a yield of 4.63 per cent.

Deals

It’s not all listings out there in the Melbourne market. Plenty of deals are getting done.

Two Edwardian-era houses at 154-156 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn, have changed hands between offshore developers for $7.2 million.

The development site between Glenferrie and Auburn roads is on 1514 sq m of land and sold for a land rate of $4755 a sq m.

The site has a permit for an 18-unit apartment project and records show it last sold for $6.4 million in 2019.

JLL’s Jesse Radisich, Maddie Pizzey and MingXuan Li handled the campaign and received six offers for the properties.

“Offshore capital remains active, particularly for strategically located sites in highly sought-after locations,” Li said.

Library

Merri-bek Council has sold its old library in Glenroy at auction for $4 million, smashing its $3.2 million reserve after bidding from five parties.

Fitzroys’ agent Ervin Niyaz, who handled the auction campaign with David Bourke, said the buyer is an interstate investor looking to value-add and repurpose the asset with a suitable tenant. “Not a lot comes up for sale in the area,” he said.

The old library is on an 1831 sq m site at 737 Pascoe Vale Road. The building was designed in 1970 by architect Harry Winbush in a Brutalist style, with arches.

Shops

Two strata-titled shops in Armadale have sold for $5.15 million in an off-market deal.

Records show Malaysian investor Capitol Melbourne has put caveats over 1126 and 1128 High Street.

The 250 sq m shops were bought from separate vendors who have held the properties for 30 and 22 years, respectively.

The transactions were negotiated by Cushman & Wakefield agents George Davies and Raphael Favas, who said the price and yields were among the sharpest recorded on the strip.

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