Adams died last year leaving behind a $100 million Ponzi scheme centred on a fake loan and mortgage book.
“There is no suggestion that any other person at AMS other than Mr Adams is suspected of wrongdoing.”Eddie Jim
The office in Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs has been leased by AMS Ivanhoe Lawyers for the past 50 years. It is in the heart of Ivanhoe’s busy strip shopping centre and has been in the hands of one family for more than 100 years.
The property,formerly two shops and a dwelling,is on a 375 square metre site at 176-178 Upper Heidelberg Road. It is offered with vacant possession.
Corporate records show the original AMS Ivanhoe Lawyers is being wound up. One of the firm’s founders,Shane Maguire,registered a new entity a week before Christmas but no supplied business address has been supplied as yet.
Maguire did not respond to a request for more information about the ongoing business and where it will ply its trade. But he did say the property owners had nothing to do with the legal practice.
Maguire previously issued a statement saying he disputed any claim that he was involved in the allegedly fraudulent activities of Adams.
Another source close to the law firm said none of the other employees or directors knew about the scheme and that they had all been blindsided.
Miles Real Estate agents Paul Evans and Mark Dixon have scheduled an auction for April 19. They are expecting between $2.9 million and $3.1 million.
Evans said he expected either a developer to rebuild the site as a small mixed-use site or that an owner-occupier would buy it.
A recent update from the Victorian Legal Services Board stated its investigation into Adams’ fake loan sideline was ongoing.
The loan business operated out of a separate bank account from the AMS trust account,which the VLSB says limits its scope to investigate the Ponzi scheme.
“Our investigative powers enable us to conduct investigations into the affairs of a law practice with an emphasis on trust money,trust property or trust accounts. Our powers are more limited in relation to matters concerning money/property that is not ‘trust money’ or ‘trust property’,” the February 6 update says.
Receiver appointed
Mortgagees have taken control of two properties owned by collapsed property developer the Residence Company and have put them on the market.
Last month,KordaMentha was appointed as receiver-managers to the 30-year-old company,run by Mark Oman.
The Residence Company developed an apartment building at 10-16 Lilydale Grove in East Hawthorn during Covid-19 without any pre-sales. Since completion,55 of the apartments have been sold but 36 remain.
10-16 Lilydale Grove,HawthornSupplied
They’re for sale in one line through JLL’s Jesse Radisich,Josh Rutman and MingXuan Li,along with Jellis Craig Projects’ Stephen Bowtell and Andrew Macmillan.
Records show the Moundous family’s Monland has a mortgage over the property. Builder Merkon Constructions put a caveat over the title more than a year ago.
Monland also has a mortgage over 550 Swan Street,a double-storey showroom and office at the riverside end of the thoroughfare. Financier Pallas Funds slapped a caveat over the property in November 2023.
The 2758 sq m building is on a 1627 sq m site down the road from Charter Hall’s 12-level office anchored by Australia Post and Home’s new build-to-rent project Richmond Traders.
Recent deals in the neighbourhood put a likely price of $15 million-plus on the site. Its short-term leases return $475,796 a year in rent.
550 Swan Street,RichmondSupplied
Cushman&Wakefield’s Daniel Wolman,Hamish Burgess,and Joe Kairouz,with JLL’s Radisich,Rutman,and Tim Carr are running the campaign.
Standout
A Box Hill development site on the southern fringe of the high-rise suburban CBD,has traded off-market for $12.25 million
Records show Chinese-backed developers paid $10 million for the 18-20 Rutland Street site in two transactions over 2021-22.
Stonebridge agent Chao Zhang,who did the deal with Julian White and Andrew Milligan,said the buyer was sourced from the firm’s Asia practice.
“The final price is a standout result for the area,being the strongest land rate on record for any development site sold east of Station Street,” Zhang said.
The property,on the south side of the railway tracks,includes two offices previously owned by the professional services occupiers.
The land rate,which equalled $10,057 a sq m,is not far off the bigger prices paid for more central sites. Number 874 Whitehorse Road sold for $8.6 million last July at $12,991 a sq m and 69 Carrington Road fetched $12.78 million,or $11,421 a sq m,one year ago.
The buyer,a privately owned Chinese developer,is keen on the Box Hill metrics,including its position on the Suburban Rail Loop. They were planning a mixed-use development,Zhang said.
“They are big believers in the future of Box Hill.”
Medical clinic
Australian Unity reaped a cool $65 million in medical clinic sales in the past few months and it is flipping another centre in Greensborough.
The Greensborough Medical&Dental Centre at 9-13 Flintoff Street is next door to the City of Banyule offices and the Watermarc Aquatic Centre. It’s across the road from a strip of other medical services.
The new clinic was purpose-built for tenant Healius in 2017 and records show Banyule sold the site to Australian Unity in 2016 for $7.26 million.
Colliers agents Ian Sanders,Justin Hazell,Chris O’Driscoll and Anna Cavar are handling expressions of interest. It’s expected to fetch more than $40 million.
9-13 Flintoff Street,GreensboroughSupplied
Australian Unity recently sold the Manningham Medical Clinic in Lower Templestowe for $45 million and another one in Corrimal,NSW,for $20 million.
Australian Unity general manager of Healthcare Property Chris Smith said sales would be used to reduce debt and fund new projects,including the $100 million Wyvern Private Hospital in Terrey Hills,NSW,and the $70 million Infinite Care Knox aged care development.
Shaved off
Developer Genesis Property is paying $9 million for a 13,540 sq m parcel of land in the tightly held industrial precinct of Campbellfield.
Vendor McMullin Property has shaved off the site from a larger parcel of land it bought in 2021 for $8.25 million.
The vacant site,lot 2 at 27-36 Cooper Street,is earmarked for a new industrial unit project. It will neighbour McMullin Property’s new 17-unit CooperRex Business Park.
Jones Real Estate’s Tim Spargo negotiated the deals for McMullin Property.
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