Caydon's proposed 12-level workplace will include 9000 square metres of lettable area above a three-level podium car park – the component Monash Freeway commuters will see as they pass 17-21 Harcourt Parade, which abuts the busy motorway and Yarra River.

The Beaver site is also next door to Caydon's Richmond silos and Nylex clock block, a controversial planning application affecting that parcel recently described by former premier Jeff Kennett as "an overdeveloped under-designed monster".

In a rare outburst, in 2013, Caydon director Joe Russo publicly criticised then planning minister Matthew Guy for suggesting then rejecting a 21-level apartment building be developed on the Beaver site.

Various residential proposals of 20 levels or just under were rejected by the council. Caydon's last residential redevelopment, unveiled eight months ago, would have included 271 apartments within a 16-level structure.

Colliers International's Michael Darvell is now seeking occupants for Caydon's proposed office building.

Mr Russo, more a builder than a commercial property investor, is expected to offload the Harcourt Parade office at a later date.

Caydon's plan to replace the Richmond silos site next door with a $1 billion mixed-use development with several apartment buildings, the tallest rising 18 levels, was recently rejected by the City of Yarra council.

Under that proposal, the Nylex clock would have be reattached to the roof of second-tallest proposed residential tower.

Northcote site sale

Developers are continuing to build castles in the sky in Northcote, with one recently paying a speculated $9 million for a 2797-square-metre block with a permit for a six-level, 92-unit apartment complex.

The collection of low-rise commercial buildings and a laneway, which the vendor acquired from the City of Darebin council a few years ago, forms 445-453 High Street, on the south-west corner of Beaver Street, about 400 metres from the Croxton train station.

The site is also close to the Northcote Plaza shopping centre and the 10-level Acacia Apartments complex, which was being opposed by anti-high-density-development groups seven years ago.

CBRE's Mark Wizel and Gross Waddell's Tony Aarons marketed 445-453 High Street.

Northcote's next major apartment proposal, expected to be announced this year, affects a 1.8-hectare parcel in Separation Street that Singaporean developer Chip Eng Seng purchased for $27 million four months ago.

More golf course land lists

Members of the Cranbourne Golf and Country Club are selling part of their 52-year-old course about 41 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.

The 5.1-hectare Cranbourne North parcel is expected to sell for more than $7 million to a developer. The General Residential-zoned block has a 117-metre frontage to Huon Park Road, and abuts the golf course, considered one of the country's better clubs.

For its first 20 years, the 6.3-kilometre Cranbourne Golf and Country Club, with 71 bunkers, had the same curator, who planted thousands of now-established trees.

Gross Waddell's Alex Ham and Michael Gross are representing the committee. Sale proceeds will be invested into the country club.

A few months ago, former AFL footballer Fraser Brown agreed to pay a speculated $40 million for the outgoing 48-hectare Amstel Golf Course, close to central Cranbourne.

In Boneo, on the Mornington Peninsula, a Chinese conglomerate recently paid $9 million for the 47-hectare Eagle Ridge Golf Course, a modernised asset formerly known as Carlogie Golf Course.

Early last year, Industry Superannuation Property Trust paid $125 million for the 53.4-hectare Kingswood Golf Course in Dingley, about 22 kilometres south-east of the CBD.

Ex-Lib MP's isle venture

Planning barrister and former state Liberal MP Clem Newton Brown who, following the Napthine government election loss, re-entered the private consulting business, is embarking on a side venture on a Tasmanian isle.

The businessman is about to open up his privately owned Picnic Island – one of 12 freehold islets in the state.

About 500 metres off Coles Bay in Freycinet National Park, and with a large penguin population, Picnic Island is near the exclusive Saffire hotel, which has rooms at $2000 a night. It is also near Wine Glass Bay, which often ranks as one of the world's best beaches.

Mr Newton Brown, who now runs Whitemark Property and Planning, appointed Tasmanian architect John Latham to design accommodation for the island on which he has privately holidayed for 10 years.

Upon completion this year, Penguin Island is planned to feature a large outdoor sculpture park and work by an internationally renowned but as yet unnamed Biennale Foundation artist.

Another Plumpton land sale

Three months after Chinese builder Dahua paid more than $60 million for a 63-hectare parcel in Plumpton, another developer has invested in a pile of the burgeoning western suburb.

This time, a 12-hectare block at 1053 Taylors Road, on the south-east corner of Sinclairs Road, is speculated to be selling for about $10 million.

Some 25 kilometres from the CBD, the site was offered with a proposed 191-lot plan of subdivision. It is part of the Kororoit Precinct Structure Plan, which encourages residential and commercial development, and is also near the Caroline Springs Town Centre.

Biggin & Scott Land's Andrew Egan and Frank Nagle were the marketing agents.

Their deal comes two months after western suburb-based developer Probus paid a speculated $11 million for a 14-hectare block at 1079-1147 Taylors Road, Lumpton, at the south-west intersection of Sinclairs Road.

Plumpton fills the space between Caroline Springs, a component of Deer Park, and Melton.

Woolworths selling Clyde North shopping centre

Woolworths is selling a near-new shopping centre in Melbourne's outer south-east, part of a $180 million national portfolio of retail assets it listed in October.

The Clyde North complex known as Selandra Rise, part of an emerging housing estate, is speculated to be under offer for about $20 million. Based on the asset's annual rental return of $1.4 million, the deal is being struck on a yield of about 7 per cent.

CBRE's Justin Dowers and Mark Wizel marketed the centre, with 11 specialty shops as well as the supermarket, on 4943 square metres of land.

Last month Woolworths pulled the pin on the costly home hardware business, Masters, after five years. The diversified retail giant controls nearly two-thirds of 63 Masters stores, expected to be listed for sale this year.

Email: marcpallisco@gmail.com

Twitter: @marpallisco