Dining culture test: Late night restaurant Waiters looks for new owner

The iconic Waiters Restaurant on Meyers Place is up for sale in a move that will test a CBD market currently in a froth about the knock-down $55 million price paid for the nearby Parkade car park. The Waiters Restaurant – originally a late-night club and restaurant for the Melbourne hospitality staff – has been a cornerstone of the city’s dining culture for more than 60 years. The current owner-operators Denis and Sergio Sabbadini bought the 173 sq m building at auction in 1993 for $260,000.

The laneway bar culture that emerged in the 1990s as the city came out of a damaging recession brought a new generation of diners to its tiny upstairs rooms. The 20 Meyers Place property, which is on a 100 sq m parcel of land, is expected to fetch between $3 and $4 million. Cushman & Wakefield agents Oliver Hay, Anthony Kirwan and George Davies are running the expressions of interest campaign that could draw a new generation of investors or, potentially, operators.



Around the corner, the City of Melbourne has reportedly sold the Parkade car park to Sydney hotelier Justin Hemmes for the bargain-basement price of $55 million. It’s Hemmes’ second purchase in the precinct. He paid $15 million for 12-18 Meyers Place in 2023.

The 960-bay car park currently provides parking for a huge swathe of theatre, restaurant and nightclub patrons. The mooted – but not disclosed – price is less than half the $115 million paid by Malaysian investor Sime Darby for the 550-bay car park on 3218 sq m at 380 Queen Street, near the Queen Victoria Market last year. While Parkade at 34-60 Little Collins Street has a longer lease than the Queen Vic-adjacent car park, the 3344 sq m parcel of land is in the city’s most prestigious and expensive pocket.

Hemmes’ Merivale Group paid $37 million for Tomasetti House on Flinders Lane in 2021, but work has only just started on its renovation. By contrast, Chris Lucas, who bought at the same time on Bourke Street, has been operating Maison Batard since late last year. Bust property group APH Holding has lost control over another of its development sites, with lender ARK Capital seizing a Box Hill site in the suburb’s medical precinct.

The 1486 sq m site is next door to APH’s completed 20-storey tower close to Box Hill hospital. Funder MaxCap has control over the tower, which is leased to Eastern Health. APH owned several development sites in Box Hill and its demise has softened values across the suburb, even after accounting for higher interest rates and building costs.

The company, backed by Chinese capital, bought 24-28 Wellington Street in 2021 for $11.8 million and tried to sell it last year for $13 million. It’s now in the hands of Newpoint Advisory, acting for the mortgagee and Savills agents Tom O’Halloran, Tim Grant, and Linc Reynolds are running the expressions of interest campaign.

The current price guide is $9 million-plus. Five strata owners, including directors of top real estate firm Marshall White, have joined forces to sell their late 1980s office on the blue-chip High Street strip in Armadale. The office built in the late 1980s at 1097-1111 High Street is on a large 1733 sq m site on the corner of Huntingtower Road.

Tenants in the 3000 sq m building include Marshall White, Chemist Warehouse, Purebaby, Institchu and Skin Threads. Cushman & Wakefield’s Oliver Hay, George Davies, Daniel Wolman, and Leon Ma have the listing and expect more than $30 million. High Street Armadale is running red hot.

Last year, the auction of a corner office and boutique building at 1047-1051 High Street ran for two hours before selling at $11.4 million, reflecting a land rate of $22,810 a sq m and a sharp 2.65 per cent yield.

The 1000 sq m Marshall White office on the second storey is one of the biggest strata offices in the eastern suburbs and has 36 of the building’s 55 car parks. Marshall White opened for business in the office in 2009 after it was bought in 2007 for $3.26 million.

Retirement village developer and operator Arcare has snapped up the former Brighton Rehab hospital for more than $20 million. Records show the property at 85-93 Wilson Street and houses at its rear on Alverna Grove were sold off-market shortly before Christmas in an off-market deal. The 5973 sq m site, zoned neighbourhood residential 3, was sold with vacant possession.

It’s understood the buyer was an under-bidder last year for the Marine Hotel, which was sold by the same agents. Gorman Commercial’s Peter Bremner and Jonathon McCormack with Vinci Carbone’s Joseph Carbone and Frank Vinci declined to comment. Buxton Group’s Richard Buxton paid around $23 million for the 4670 sq m Marine Hotel site at 199-215 New Street.

An 1835 sq m development site at 596 St Kilda Road is back on the market several years after its 19-unit art deco apartment complex was demolished. Sydney developer Parekh-Li paid around $25 million in 2020, snaring a bargain from Taiwanese developer Everland which had paid $34 million at the peak of the market in 2017. Ripple Parekh might do well out of the deal.

Savills agents Julian Heatherich, Benson Zhou and James Latos are running expressions of interest and expect in the high $20 millions. Much further down the leafy boulevard in St Kilda, a two-storey office at 245 St Kilda Road is on the market for the first time since 2016. The 2583 sq m office has been refurbished and was let as a co-working space for several years.

It’s on a large 3495 sq m site on the corner of Waterloo Crescent, south of St Kilda Junction. It last changed hands for $15 million and is expected to fetch around $25 million this time. One of the building’s earlier deals in the late 1990s involved Foster’s Brewing selling to a Perth investor in the late 1990s for $4 million on a staggeringly high yield of 19 per cent.

CBRE agents Nick Peden, Trent Hobart and David Minty have the listing. The developer who built Smith Street apartment block Haus in the mid-2010s has gone bust and now the Dan Murphy’s bottle shop at the foot of the building is for sale. Records show JMA Property Group, the owner of Angelo Property Group and the Dan Murphy’s store at 416-422 Smith Street, is now in the hands of administrators KordaMentha after funder, Prospa Advance, pulled the plug on parts of the company.

Stonebridge agents Rorey James, Kevin Tong and Nic Hage, with Sutherland Farrelly’s Paul Sutherland and Grant Sutherland have the listing. While freehold Dan Murphy’s command a pretty penny, this strata shop will likely fetch around $6.5-7 million or a 6 per cent yield.

The 1190 sq m shop earns $443,703 a year. Dan Murphy’s ASX-listed owner Endeavour has a lease out to 2032, with further options..