We study distributed output feedback control for a heterogeneous multiagent system (MAS), consisting of N different continuous-time linear dynamical systems. For achieving output consensus, a virtual reference model is assumed to generate the desired trajectory that the MAS is required to track and synchronize. A distinct feature of our results lies in the local optimality and robustness achieved by our proposed consensus control algorithm. In addition our study is focused on the case when the available output measurements contain only relative information from the neighboring agents. Indeed by exploiting properties of positive real transfer matrices, conditions are derived for the existence of distributed output feedback control protocols, and solutions are proposed to synthesize the stabilizing and consensus control protocol over a given digraph that has a spanning tree. It is shown that design techniques based on the LQG, LQG/LTR, and H-infinity loop shaping can all be employed directly to synthesize the consensus output feedback control protocol, thereby ensuring the local optimality and stability robustness. Finally the reference trajectory is required to be transmitted to only one or a few agents and no local reference models are employed in the feedback controllers thereby eliminating synchronization of the local reference models. Our results complement the existing ones, and are illustrated by a numerical example.