ILHAN OFFERS BLUE-RIBBON CITY OFFICE, RETAIL SPACE

Patricia Ilhan has listed a blue-ribbon office and retail asset in the city centre.

The four-level building at 362 Little Collins Street is between Queen and Elizabeth Streets, a block from the Bourke Street Mall and only a little further to the Flinders Street Station.

Until Ms Ilhan bought it on Christmas Eve in 2009, the building was part of a portfolio for a proposal known as The Foundry. The proposal was to have included a 38-level office, apartments and shops.

The properties were occupied by the McEwans Hardware store from the 1960s to the 1990s and earmarked in the late 1980s to become a 50-level hotel. The site was later occupied by Bunnings until 2005.

Under Ms Ilhan's ownership, the building has been let and returns annual rent of nearly $400,000.

The ground-level retail space facing Little Collins Street is leased to Flight Centre while the three shops facing Foundry Lane are leased to Brookfield Multiplex, which intends to develop part of the Foundry building as a 39-level office tower.

On a 312-square-metre block, 362 Little Collins Street has airspace development potential, too. It is expected to sell for more than $8 million.

Vinci Carbone is representing Ms Ilhan, who has focused on philanthropic events since the 2007 death of her husband, businessman John Ilhan.

After selling Crazy John's, the business founded by her late husband, Ms Ilhan has invested heavily in property and her wealth has grown in recent years. She is believed to be selling the prime CBD property to reinvest in more substantial assets.

Another commercial asset- the Sydney Road, Brunswick, shop where Crazy John's started trading - was also sold by the family.