The Arkadia Centre at 50-56 Batman Street fetched $8.78 million after an expressions of interest campaign that elicited 130 enquiries.

Fitzroys agent Michael Ryan, who negotiated the deal with James Gregson, said the buyer was a small private offshore developer making one of its first forays into the Australian market.

The 868 square metre site is on the city-fringe between Spencer and King streets around the corner from the Flagstaff Gardens. It is zoned Mixed Use and has right of way entry to the side from Spencer Street.

The price equates to $10,115 a square which is close to a record for an unpermitted site, Mr Ryan said. The buyer is planning a project with between 70 and 90 apartments.

"Bigger parcels of land with permits for up to 400 apartments have sold for around $25,000 a square metre but this is a small site," he said.

However it is next door to a fire station which will means the site's views of the bay are unlikely to be built out.

Arkadia had occupied the site for nearly 30 years. The Prasino-Arkadia Community, which used the Arkadia Centre, was established in 1965 for Greeks who migrated from a village called Prasino in the south of Greece.

West Melbourne, with its large swathes of industrial buildings, is in the middle of a huge transformation. A362 square metre office warehouse at 88 Miller Street recently fetched $2.4 million at auction and a 9200 square metre development site, owned by Australia Post, sold for $40 million.