The proposed 116-dwelling project, recently pushed through planning by property builder and vendor, Hacer Group, will rise from 11-15 Brunswick Road, a high-profile plot that stares down Station Street, being at the top of a busy T-intersection.

The northern suburb pocket is fast developing a skyline of towers this year, with local developer Caydon's building the Ettaro complex next door, which will contain 412 units in three buildings rising seven, five and three storeys.

Caydon, headed by Joe Russo, paid $15 million for its site, the former Charles Parsons textile and manufacturing plant, at 21-27 Brunswick Road, in 2010. On a hectare (the word that translates to "ettaro'' in Italian), that deal valued a square metre of land at about $1500.

The sale of 11-15 Brunswick Road, a 1724 square metre plot, now prices land at more than $5500 per square metre. The industrial block also traded without a permit in 2013 for $6.5 million (or about $3770 per sq m).

Bill McNee sells 'world's best office'

The opulent South Yarra headquarters of property developer Bill McNee, described by the selling agents as "the world's best office", has sold for $6.8 million, a deal that values the internal space at a substantially higher rate than CBD strata suites.

The award-winning office spread over 675 sq m on the top levels of 529 Chapel Street, includes rooftop terraces offering a full-service bar with beer taps, steam room and a teppanyaki grill. The office space itself, much of which is under a double-height ceiling void, includes private and communal workspaces with high-end fixtures and fittings.

The sale rate equates to more than $16,000 per sq m of internal area.

McInnes to raze historic $9.25m property

Premier Investments chief executive Mark McInnes is the latest business identity to spend more than $9 million on a historic Melbourne mansion now earmarked for replacement.

The former David Jones chief has just negotiated a new employment contract unlocking $12 million, which Solomon Lew's Premier said in an ASX statement, will be used to construct a new home on what it called "land" McInnes has purchased.

It can now be revealed the property facing a wrecking balls is Hopetoun Road's Sark, a glamorous five-bedroom manor built in 1934 and on an 1825 square metre plot almost entirely hidden from the street.

Mr McInnes declined to comment about the new construction when contacted by The Age.

The McInnes plan comes in the week another millionaire demolished historic Edward Street, Kew, mansion, Forres – a property bought in late 2014 for $9.4 million from Andrew Newbold, ex-Hawthorn Football Club president and director and co-investor of website, RealAs.

Last October, Heritage Golf and Country Club owner Xiaoyan "Kylie" Bao – who is separating from her husband, Chinese billionaire turned Australian investor Wang Hu, demolished part of the 1913 Idylwilde mansion at 16 St Georges Road, Toorak, a fully renovated mansion she acquired for $18.5 million in September 2013.

Malatesta sells 6 Melbourne Place

Salvatore Malatesta, the owner of coffee business St Ali, has reaped $2.8 million selling a leased restaurant in the CBD's east end. The 180 sq m, double-storey retail space at 6 Melbourne Place is occupied by Sezar, which has options to stay beyond 2020.

Based on the annual rental return of almost $120,000, the asset traded on a yield of 4.1 per cent. CBRE's Josh Rutman, Tom Tuxworth and Paul Tzamalis represented Malatesta, conducting the auction before  a packed laneway.

Fifteen bids were received before an investor who lives in Melbourne's eastern suburbs snapped it up, valuing the retail space at more than $31,100 per sq m.

"Whilst I never thought I'd sell the property given I always wanted something in the city, current market conditions and the potential to exceed expectations allowed me to use the money elsewhere. I felt it was the right time [to sell]," Mr Malatesta said.

Another Thistlethwaite sale

Another apartment development site in Thistlethwaite Street, Fishermans Bend, has sold, this time for $7.525 million.

The 1237 sq m parcel was not offered with a permit but instead an architectural concept plan for an eight-level complex with 84 flats, many capitalising on city and Port Phillip Bay views.

Colliers International's Andrew Ryan, Hamish Burgess and Trent Hobart marketed 37-47 Thistlethwaite Street, currently a two-storey building with a lettable area of 1749 sq m.

The sale comes months after the same agents sold a 1194 sq m block next door, at 15-35 Thistlethwaite Street, for more than $8 million. The vendor of that site, Circa Property Group, offered the block with a permit for an eight-level, 83-unit complex. It exchanged to an Asia-based builder.

Bensons buys Prahran site

Bensons Property Group, whose founder and chairman Elias Jreissati owns two of Melbourne's most valuable penthouses, has paid $11.35 million for a Prahran development site without a permit.

The neighbouring parcels at 10-16 Cecil Street are spread across 1271 sq m of land and include two double-storey offices and 31 car parks. Teska Carson and Marshall White marketed the asset with a development scheme for a 104-unit residential complex.

The listing was another example of neighbours combining their sites to attract a higher price from medium and high-density builders.

In 2014, Mr Jreissati famously let the market decide which glamorous penthouse apartment he would live at, by putting both of them on the market, then moving into whichever one didn't sell.

His E82 penthouse, sprawling across 676 sq ms in Southbank's Eureka building was then listed at $22 million, while a three-level, 1040 sq m unit atop the HMAS building in Port Melbourne, his home for more than a decade, was offered for $18 million.

Email: marcpallisco@gmail.com

Twitter: @marcpallisco