The duo's Made Establishment, which has bought and sold several Melbourne assets in recent years, purchased 15 Railway Parade North two weeks before a scheduled auction.

The single-storey building is between three car parks associated with the train station. The site is near the southern end of Centro: The Glen shopping centre and walking distance to the City of Monash council offices. Most of the 209-square-metre site fronts Euneva Avenue.

Calombaris has risen in prominence following media appearances that include as a judge on television show MasterChef.

A few weeks ago, the chefs were permitted to refurbish the 105-year-old Hobsons Bay Hotel, in Williamstown, into Melbourne's next Hellenic Republic.

In August, Made Establishment sold for $2.4 million the Brunswick East building occupied by the city's first Hellenic Republic. The pair is also behind The Press Club and Gazi.

Glen Waverley-based agent Peter Sprekos of Jones Lang LaSalle sold the property for Sharp Investment Managers, which prior to sale obtained a permit for a three-level office and retail building.

Mr Sprekos said the property generated strong interest immediately after listing. "Even though we were confident of a successful auction the owners felt the offer before them was too strong to turn down," he said.

Made Establishment is understood to have paid more than $1.5 million to secure the restaurant premises. It is expected it may request to tweak the permit to create a large restaurant capable of seating hundreds.

Kinglake hotel sale

Meanwhile, another admired chef, Chris Owen, is selling the Kinglake hotel site he bought in 2010, a year following the area's destructive bushfires.

Owen bought the project, on two hectares in the town centre, after first being a volunteer at a cooking relief centre and getting to know locals. He has also published The Kinglake Cookbook, which generated funds for the precinct's rebuilding.

The restored pub site includes a new bar developed in a former residence and a new food store business that sells local produce. It also includes a separate bar with TAB facilities, beer gardens, a motel, family bistro and restaurant.

Now known as the Kinglake Pub and Pantry, the redevelopment is almost complete. Owen is offering it with a permit to replace an undeveloped four hectares with a cabin park.

Cropley Commercial's John Bahen is representing Owen, who in 1988 bought the rundown Railway Club Hotel in Port Melbourne and converted it into a 20-staff restaurant famous for its steak.

The Ralston South Yarra

Developers pitching another apartment complex near the busy corner of Punt and Toorak roads in South Yarra better hope VicRoads doesn't widen either thoroughfare soon.

This week, a development company connected to George Koumantatakis, the owner of Camberwell's former and hugely popular Car Park Cafe, started marketing a six-level complex to be addressed 22 Toorak Road, but which also covers blocks 24-26.

The proposed units have rear aspect over Caroline Gardens and are near some of the suburb's most exclusive streets. Branded The Ralston, it will include 53 dwellings configured as townhouses and flats.

VicRoads has over decades been snapping up local sites in case 20 metres is needed for a widening of Punt Road – one of Melbourne's worst traffic thoroughfares.

Earlier this year the government announced a plan to use many of Vicroads' Punt Road sites as car parks – subsequently allowing for parking to be taken off Punt Road. Plans to tunnel Punt Road or replace it with a series of overpasses and underpasses, have also been mooted over the years.

West Melbourne development site listed

The first of three development sites listed in West Melbourne's Rosslyn Street in September has sold.

The collection of low-rise commercial and industrial buildings that form a 2636-square-metre site known at 113-133 Rosslyn Street is speculated to have traded for about $14 million.

The asset was listed with a planning scheme put together by one of the vendors. It was listed with the neighbouring 450-square-metre block known as 135-137 Rosslyn Street, which also had an apartment redevelopment scheme.

CBRE's Jamus Campbell and Mark Wizel are marketing the sites with Gross Waddell's Andrew Greenway and Michael Gross.

Also in September, Australia Post listed a 9206-square-metre former mail centre with price expectations of about $40 million. That Knight Frank campaign is also targeting developers with a planning scheme, but not yet a permit, for flats.

Carpet Call sells

Mulgrave is about to lose one of its highest profile office occupants after interests associated with the Carpet Call Floor Centre group sold its prominent Springvale Road headquarters for $8.1 million.

Carpet Call's outgoing office at 573-577 Springvale Road is opposite the Brandon Park Shopping Centre. On a 6805-square-metre plot, the investment was offered with a lease returning $503,000 in annual rent. On that basis the asset sold on a yield of 6.2 per cent. Carpet Call will relocate to nearby Notting Hill.

Fitzroys directors David Bourke and Peter Weatherby sold the property off-market. It is near the busy junction of Ferntree Gully Road.

The new owner, an occupier, will redevelop the site into a commercial car yard in the medium term. Mr Bourke said a number of developers also circled the site, which has redevelopment potential.

Danks sells Braeside site

After selling the hardware business to Woolworths a few years ago, interests associated with the Danks family have offloaded the Braeside property that for yearswas the company's headquarters.

The 2.8-hectare block at 414-426 Lower Dandenong Road is understood to have traded for more than $8 million. The property is near the corner of Boundary Road and Moorabbin Airport.

Woolworths is committed to the property until next March, paying just over $100,000 a month in rent.  As well as accommodating office and warehouse buildings, the asset has a large portion of vacant land with access to Bell Grove and Tarnard Drive.

Jones Lang LaSalle's Andrew O'Connell with Crabtree's Gavin Dumas and Grant Tishler declined to comment on the campaign.

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Twitter: @marcpallisco