$11M SPLASH IN CARLTON SUGGESTS DEVELOPMENT ON THE WIND

A Chinese investor has splashed out $11.4 million at auction to buy a small Carlton office building in the heart of the city-fringe apartment and education precinct.

The three-level, 1930s-era building at 21-25 Bouverie Street is leased to Grimshaw Architects until August 2019. But its placement on an 823-square-metre island site suggests it will fall to development.

Zoned mixed use, the building's immediate neighbours are apartments and it is across the road from Grocon's new apartment project on the former CUB site.

Vinci Carbone director Joseph Carbone said that the buyer would consider options for the building at the end of the 2019 lease.

Competition for the property ''was phenomenal", he said "There were over 100 inquiries and six bidders in front of 100 people."

The price, about 25 per cent over the reserve, represented value of about $13,850 a square metre. The building is leased at $468,000 a year, reflecting a sharp yield of 4.1 per cent.

While an overseas buyer purchased the property, the under bidders included local developers and some wealthy Melbourne families, Mr Carbone said.