Secret Agent
The Sunday Age
Sunday March 27, 2011
Close to the actionRegular grand prix racegoers may notice the historical and former heritage-protected Avalon mansion, near the 13th turn at the bottom of Albert Park Lake, has just been demolished.Built in 1903, and on a massive 2323-square-metre block at 70 Queens Road, Avalon was designed by prominent architect William Pitt, who also designed the Princess Theatre and Olderfleet buildings, in town, and the Denton Hat Mill building in Abbotsford.Avalon was one of the few mansions dotted within the wider St Kilda Road precinct that survived a commercial office building boom that intensified in the 1980s, but troughed by the '90s.However, Avalon did not survive the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which approved a demolition application by the mansion's previous owner allowing it to be sold as a development site for $7.7 million in late 2007.The property is now controlled by Sydney-based builder Peloton Group, which expects its 12-level, 159-unit Proximity tower (above) to be completed late next year. Just five apartments are unsold in Proximity, which was marketed last year.Ed Phillips sells unitFather-to-be Ed Phillips sold his Murrumbeena unit after auction. The television personality, who recently married Nine News Sydney weather presenter Jaynie Seal and is now Sydney-based, sold his Howe Street property for more than $450,000, after paying just $200,000 for it in 1998.The two-bedroom unit, one of five on the block, was marketed by Hocking Stuart Carnegie's Alex Yaramanis and Mark Staples.
© 2011 The Sunday Age
