Developer Neometro has bought a recreation centre in Melbourne’s inner-city suburb of St Kilda East for $21.8 million after a competitive sales campaign.  

The 5,008 sqm ‘Saint Alma’ site comprised a gym, recreation and leisure centre that was fully leased to Fitness First Australia until 2024.  

Located at 97 Alma Road, the site was situated opposite Alma Park and near trams, the Windsor and Balaclava train stations and other amenities in St Kilda East – about 6km southeast of Melbourne’s CBD.  

“2021 was a year of very significant growth for Neometro,” Neometro director James Tutton said. 

“We made some major acquisitions and securing Alma Rd days before Christmas was the perfect icing on the cake.”  

Colliers’ Peter Bremner, Jozef Dickinson, Trent Hobart and Ted Dwyer sold the property, while Tim Bolton from Bolton Property was the transaction advisor for the long-time vendors. 

“It offered the ultimate in flexibility and future potential, underpinned by a strong income profile with significant value-add opportunities,” Bremner said. 

Dickinson said the scale and location of the property made it a prime medium-term redevelopment prospect.  

“The property appealed to a variety of buyer types, validating the multitude of potential redevelopment options (STCA),” he said.  

“The tightly held nature of the location and scale of the land area suited residential, aged-care and retirement and/or ongoing use with value-add upside. 

“The campaign was hotly contested, and it was great to see such prominent involvement from some of Melbourne’s most recognised developers, who clearly saw the unique attributes of the site as a rare opportunity.” 

Recent Melbourne property deals include developer ID_Land’s purchase of three parcels of land spanning 59 hectares in the southeast Melbourne suburb of Clyde for $140 million last week. 

Last month, Make Ventures bought a Toyota dealership site in Preston in Melbourne’s north for $40 million with plans to develop a build-to-rent (BTR) property. 

The deal followed Altis Property Partners and Aware Super’s acquisition of a commercial building in Preston for $14.04 million with their own plans to also develop BTR property.