The 3339 square metre building, designed by architect and former lord mayor Bernard Evans in 1959, has a distinctive glass facade.

It is on a large 916 square metre parcel of land, nearly half of which - 409 square metres - is a car park with frontage to Little Bourke Street.

The LIV, which represents the state’s solicitors, paid $1.5 million for the Bourke Street property, in the mid-1970s.

“It’s an interesting site but it’s hard to quantify the value per square metre because of the vacant land out the back,” Mr Hay said.

“It appealed to investors, owner-occupiers and developers and we had a 50-50 split between offshore and local interest,” he said.

The final price is unlikely to have reached the heights of the nearby 3000 square metre site acquired by Cbus Property last month.

Cbus spent around $170 million to buy four properties on the corner of Bourke and Queen streets in a complex deal involving the wealthy Chow family, Singapore-listed Chip Eng Seng and a Brunei-based investor.

Fitzroys agent Rob Harrington, who represented the buyer, said office rental growth is fuelling renewed interest in office investments.

“We’ve got rental growth coming through so yields might start steadying now,” Mr Harrington said.

The LIV sold the property with a six month lease back arrangement so it can find new premises but has some flexibility with two addition three-month options. The LIV’s transaction manager Charter Keck Cramer is also advising the legal organisation on its new office space.

LIV chief executive officer Nerida Wallace said: “Our building has served the Law Institute and the community well for almost 40 years.

“We’re excited to be moving to modern accommodation within the legal precinct so we can better support our members, the legal profession and the community,” Ms Wallace said.

Non-profit groups who bought cheaply in the city decades ago are taking advantage of the historic high prices fetched by freehold properties.

Last year, legal education body the Leo Cussen Institute sold its long-held CBD headquarters for $33 million to Singapore-listed developer Roxy Pacific.