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Key points

• The eerie half-finished home started by Adrian Valmorbida has been snapped up by developers Prime Edition.
• The property in Avoca Street, South Yarra was bought for 15,188,000.
• The half-finished home will be transformed into five luxury apartments and a three-storey house.

Property listings

Conventional wisdom favours buying the worst house on the best street, and now the mystery buyers of what may well be the worst house in South Yarra have been unveiled.

Property developer Prime Edition snapped up the unfinished shell at 17, 19 and 21c Avoca Street for more than $15 million and plans to build luxury apartments and a large home.

Prime Edition director Eric Loi near the development site in South Yarra.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Prime Edition director Eric Loi knew about the Avoca Street site for years, meaning the purchase of the site took him full circle.

The property, set on a large block of 1283 square metres, was once an eerie fixer upper given the former owner, the late businessman Adrian Valmorbida and wife Kairu Chan, began building an architecturally designed home but had not finished, leaving a shell behind.

The Valmorbida family is known for introducing Australia to Lavazza coffee, Sirena tuna and La Gina canned tomatoes.

Loi formerly worked for architect Nonda Katsalidis, who designed Valmorbida’s Avoca Street home project, and also met with Adrian Valmorbida during that time.

“We always wondered what was going to happen with the site [it sat dormant for seven years],” Loi said. “It is a cracking location, it’s not your normal South Yarra location.”

Loi’s new project, dubbed “Avoca”, will launch this month and include five luxury apartments at 17 Avoca Street and a three-storey home at 19 Avoca Street.

The six properties are valued at a combined $65 million and will be built by Melbourne-based construction company Henny, with design by Pandolfini Architects.

Loi said the developers would not waste the construction work already done on the site and would incorporate some of it in the new buildings.

Loi says the developers will incorporate some of the work that has already been done into the new project.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

“We’ve gotten rid of level two, but we’re keeping all the rest,” he said. “We’ve had engineers go through the site and do a report before we bought it.

“We had them check the soil and the basement slabs, and they’re all in pretty good condition, so we’re basically full steam ahead.”

Loi had to get council approval to adjust the proposed development before the developers bought the site, and the updated project is expected to be complete by the end of 2024.

Prime Edition was previously known as JCL Prime. Loi’s previous roles include stints at Henny and engineering firm Robert Bird Group. He was also photographed next to then-state opposition leader Matthew Guy at last year’s 100 Days to Change the Government campaign lunch before the state election.

While some developers have worried about the impact of rising interest rates and rising building prices on buyer demand, Loi was not concerned and believed the development would sell quickly.

“It’s interesting, we’ve already had a few groups approaching us before we’ve appointed an agent. It’s quite an interesting location because everyone is sitting across the street in a cafe wondering what is going on,” he said.

“We have a few people already on our list for the project at the moment.”

Housing Industry Authority senior economist Tom Devitt said the cost of building materials, particularly home building materials, had skyrocketed by 30 per cent over the past three years. Labour costs increased by 25 per cent over the same time.

The South Yarra site before it sold.Credit: Jellis Craig Stonnington

Though those price rises were now moderating, Devitt said it was unlikely prices would return to their pre-pandemic levels, adding pressure to developers and home builders across the country.

Devitt said boutique builders, working on luxury builds, were reporting steady amounts of work even despite the cost increases.

“We have heard from a few members. The amount of work they do has been constant year to year, so that’s the story we’re getting from some boutique builders compared to volume builders,” he said.

Loi said the South Yarra project would be targeted at luxury buyers, and the 330-square-metre apartments would be built with downsizers in mind.

Soon the block will be developed into luxury apartments.Credit: Jellis Craig

“This is not going to be a cheap build, it’s going to be very high end. We’re not going to be able to cut corners with a development like this,” he said. “This is something special.”

Prime Edition also expects to launch two Toorak apartment developments this year. One site, at 2 Bruce Street, was bought last year for $26 million from LK Property Group’s Larry Kestelman, the owner of Australia’s National Basketball League.

The other smaller project is at 410 Toorak Road.

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