Dustin Martin bulks up Richmond property portfolioLarry Schlesinger
Australian Financial Review
Apr 5, 2022 – 3.57pmAFL superstar Dustin Martin and his manager Ralph Carr have extended their spending spree in Melbourne’s inner east, after purchasing a fourth commercial building on Butler Street in Richmond.
The three-time Richmond Tigers premiership player and Mr Carr, whose firm Ralph Carr Management has its office on Lennox Street in Richmond, now own a row of warehouse-style buildings with a combined footprint of nearly 900 square metres running from 23 Butler Street to 37 Butler Street.
The sale of 23 Butler Street set a land record for Richmond.
The street is a block away from Victoria Street, one of Richmond’s main retail strips, known for its Asian eateries and grocery stores. It is also less than two kilometres from the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Martin inspired the Tigers to three premierships in 2017, 2019 and 2020.
The latest acquisition by the pair and a silent partner was 23 Butler Street, a two-storey commercial building on a 156sq m site, which sold at auction on March 16 for $2.75 million.
Agents Matt Hoath and Rory White from Gray Johnson confirmed the sale price but declined to comment further.
The price paid under the hammer achieved a record land rate for Richmond of $17,628 per square metre.
According to one onlooker at the March 18 auction, bidding from three parties pushed the price for 23 Butler Street more than $1 million above expectations.
“There was bidding frenzy,” the onlooker said.
The property, which sold as part of a deceased estate, was previously a photographic studio.
Property partnershipMr Carr and Martin share ownership of the Butler Property Group, which they established 2016 and has focused on buying office and retail property in Richmond, an inner-city suburb where commercial property values have soared in the past few years as more businesses have relocated from the CBD.
Last year, Butler Property Group No.3, which includes Gold Coast businessman Chris Bissiotis as a joint owner and director alongside Mr Carr and Martin, paid $1.275 million for a refurbished warehouse at 37 Butler Street.
Mr Carr and Martin made their first acquisition on Butler Street in 2016, buying a warehouse at 29-31 Butler Street for $2.2 million.
Two years later they bought another warehouse at 25 Butler Street for $2.915 million.
Martin, who won the AFL’s Brownlow Medal in 2017, also owns a two-level renovated office building at 367 Victoria Street, which he purchased for $3 million in 2019. He is currently taking a break from football for personal reasons.
Mr Carr, Martin and Mr Bissiotis are also joint owners of a retail and office property at 407 Victoria Street in neighbouring Abbotsford, purchased for $4.8 million in 2020.
Outside the partnership, Mr Carr listed 9 Clifton Street, a converted, heritage office building leased to Brown Brothers, for sale earlier this year. He purchased the property for $3.05 million in December 2008.
In December, he sold a commercial building at 28-34 Rooney Street in Richmond for about $12 million. Title deeds show a caveat in favour of Andrew Gutwirth, managing director of Melbourne pipe-maker Multec.
https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/dustin-martin-bulks-up-richmond-property-portfolio-20220405-p5aaxa
