Commercial and residential property news
THE Australian Bureau of Statistics today released official building approval numbers.
They show the number of dwellings approved nationally fell by 1.3 per cent in April, after rising 8.6 per cent in March (seasonally adjusted).
Victoria held about steady, while New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania recorded major drops. By comparison, South Australia and Queensland reported notable rises.
Read more
FASHION designer Alex Perry will attach his name to an 11-level Brisbane apartment tower.
Perry has teamed with private developer Chrome Property Group to come up with “Alex Perry Residential”, a high end apartment range, starting with a Fortitude Valley development where one-bedroom apartments will start from $375,000, and three bedroom flats are available for just under $1 million.
Alex Perry Residences will be developed on the corner of Ann and Chester Streets about 1.5 kilometres north of the Brisbane CBD.
Read more
The West Australian government has announced a $580 million redevelopment of Perth’s old Treasury building. The redevelopment will include a
Read moreAGED care accommodation provider Southern Cross Care has paid more than $8 million for a landmark Adelaide property controlled by the Catholic Church for more than a hundred years.
The former Carmelite Monastery at Myrtle Bank includes a 24,000 square metre residential zoned site at the corner of Glen Osmond and Cross roads, in Adelaide’s ritzy east.
Southern Cross, which is developing a luxury apartment complex across the road from Carmelite, will settle on its purchase just before Christmas.
Read moreTHE FIRST listed property trust casualty of the global financial crisis – Centro Properties Group – has put two more
Read moreLend Lease Corporation Limited (”Lend Lease”) today announced that its UK public private partnerships (“PPP”) business, Catalyst Lend Lease, has been selected as preferred partner to deliver the £1.2 billion (A$2.7 billion) Building Schools for the Future (“BSF”) project for the City of Birmingham, Europe’s largest metropolitan council.
Read more
Broadmeadows, about 16 kilometres north of the CBD, is one of the only suburbs in metropolitan Melbourne where one can still buy a house, on land, for less than $200,000.
Read moreTelstra’s decision to relocate around 4000 employees to the outer south-eastern suburb of Clayton, will blow out vacancy levels in several suburban office markets from 2009.
Read more
THE Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal will decide whether a developer can replace rundown offices at one of Melbourne’s busiest intersections with a colourful, 18-level apartment tower, sure to be a landmark within the bayside suburb of St Kilda.
Plans for the 2-8 St Kilda Road proposal show a unique building which will appear as several stacks packed on top of each other. Each stack (of between two to four levels of apartments) are burgundy, teal, orange, green, yellow and white.
The City of Port Phillip council refused the application citing height, scale and intensity concerns. Mayor Rachel Powning warned the building would negatively impact traffic flow and road safety around the St Kilda junction which connects St Kilda Road with Fitzroy Street, Punt, Dandenong and Queens roads.
Read more
BANK ANZ has sold 20 Martin Place in Sydney to Boston based property advisory Pembroke Real Estate, which is acting on behalf of an affiliate.
The 21-level office building is the first purchase of a property asset by Pembroke in Australia.
ANZ is relocating to a new Grocon development at 242 Pitt Street in 2013.
Read more
A CONTROVERSIAL new population strategy – which sets no population target at all – has concerned peak property bodies.
The Gillard government’s first population strategy, Sustainable Australia, Sustainable Communities, is “political in nature’ according to the Property Council of Australia chief executive Peter Verwer, who added it contained “little more than motherhood statements, previously announced government initiatives and ongoing government programs.”
“This is not a detailed plan for managing population growth and to describe it as a policy or a strategy would be stretching credibility,” Mr Verwer was quoted as saying in The Australian. “We need to grow our population, which needs taxation revenue to fund vital services,” he added.
Read more
MIGRANT workers could help boost the delivery of gas projects in towns like Gladstone, in Queensland, under new plans by the federal Labor government.
Population minister and internal Labor debating instructor Tony Burke told The Courier Mail the government plans to rely on a boost in the number of temporary skilled migrants for booming coal seam gas projects in Queensland. He added the government would intervene local zoning laws in outer Brisbane to reduce traffic congestion, and try to encourage more businesses to quit the CBD, for the suburbs.
Mr Burke described the decision as part of a “sustainable population” policy to be released closer to the Budget.
Read more
DEVELOPER Satterley has paid $94 million for a 104 hectare residential development site in its home town of Perth.
The land is able to yield 1200 lots, and is located in the city’s south-east.
“At a time when a land shortage is looming, this is a very important big picture buy,” Satterley founder Nigel Satterley told the AFR.
The new estate abuts Satterley’s Heron Park estate.
Read more
THE Property Council of Australia today unveiled its “Adelaide in 2036” planning proposal.
The report proposes a city-wide masterplan to promote city living.
PCA executive director Nathan Paine said in his recommendations a taller hospital, on a smaller site, would allow the city to utilise its riverbank with taller buildings, much like Brisbane or Melbourne.
Read moreTHE DEPARTMENT of Education can expect to reap about $3 million from the sale of a northern suburb primary school
Read moreBrighton is Melbourne’s most expensive bayside suburb and is the only suburb outside of Toorak to record consistent home sales of greater than $10 million.
Read moreWT Retail India, a joint venture between Pelorus Property Group and Indian based development manager, Assetz Property, has been appointed to undertake the repositioning and ongoing management of the Garuda Mall. The Mall is a 26,000sqm multi level shopping centre in downtown Bangalore.
Read moreFoster’s move raises speculation it will eventually offload its iconic CUB Brewery site, which sits on 9 hectares of riverfront land overlooking Kew’s Studley Park. Industry insiders are divided about whether this will happen.
Read more
VASEY RSL Care has reaped almost $7 million from the sale of a disused hostel on a massive block of land in one of Hawthorn’s more revered streets.
The 3560 square metre block at 20 Lisson Grove not far from the Yarra River and Richmond border is understood to have sold to a residential developer, but this could not be confirmed with Kliger Wood selling agents Nick Breheny or Eugene Wood.
Not far away on the corner of Lisson Grove and Glenferrie Road, the former Hawthorn Receptions Centre hit the market earlier this month with price expectations of about $8.5 million.
Read more
Larry Emdur, has paid a reported $6.8 million for a contemporary cliff-top home in Sydney east. The game show commentator
Read more
RENTAL vacancy levels increased last month according to SQM Research.
For the month, there were 6135 more residences listed for rent, bringing the total to 47,787 nationally. Last April the figure was around 37,000.
Melbourne had the highest rental vacancy rate at 2.6 per cent, according to SQM, while Canberra, the nation’s capital, had the lowest amount of rental stock: 0.6 per cent.
Read more
SCOTT’S Refrigerated Freightways has paid almost $12 million for a distribution centre at Ormeau on the Gold Coast. The 2.1
Read moreGOLD Coast property developer John Fish can expect to make about $35 million from the sale of a 68,000 square metre development site at Hope Island.
The site includes the Marina Quays Tavern.
Paul Smerdon, a spokesman for developer the Fish Group, told the AFR the project would be better suited to someone with more experience at running mixed use sites.
Read moreAMP Capital Investors and the Meridien Group can expect to make between $100 million and $150 million from the sale of 12 South Australian retirement villages.
The portfolio includes 946 retirement village units, and 246 serviced apartments. The joint venture owners confirmed it will accept off-market offers on the assets as a whole, or individually.
The joint venture owners will retain villages in New South Wales and Queensland.
Read more
MELBOURNE will soon have a choc-filled centre, with Swiss chocolatier Lindt confirming it will open a “flagship” chocolate bar in the CBD.
Australia’s fifth Lindt Chocolat Cafe will open in July, within the walls of a former banking chamber, at 271 Collins Street, a space occupied until recently as the global headquarters for the National Australia Bank.
Lindt has leased 200 square metres of refurbished retail space – about twice the size of a standard city shop – and will open a specialist chocolate flavoured cafe and bakery, to rival nearby caffeine-concourses Degraves Street, Flinders Lane and Centre Place.
Read moreLocated about 13 kilometres east of the CBD, Box Hill has become a lot more accessible since the Whitehorse Road tram extended to the Box Hill Central railway station.
Read moreIt was an accident waiting to happen.
In one corner, cashed up and trusting investors wanting to get the best returns out of their savings.
In the other corner, sales people for a property scheme, posing as financial advisers – earning a commission from every dollar they can get you to invest.
Read more
LITTLE Project Developments – the construction company of local billionaire entrepreneur Paul Little – has reaped $14.5 million selling off the commercial component of a five-level building in Armadale.
The 863 High Street asset includes 615 square metres of retail space, 2567 square metres of A-grade offices, and 64 car parks.
For years until it was demolished in 2009, the site was home to the Geddes antiques store. LPD has also built and separately sold townhouses and apartments on the site.
Read more
THE New South Wales headquarters of the Australian Red Cross has sold for $31 million.
The eight-level building at 153-159 Clarence Street in the Sydney CBD was purchased by Melbourne based developer and construction group St Hilliers.
The art deco building has been the headquarters of the ARC and Red Cross Blood Service since 1974, but was built around 1938-1939 as a warehouse and showroom for wholesalers S. Hoffnug and Co.
Read more
MELBOURNE-based developer Grocon is reportedly close to selling a Brisbane office building for about $170 million.
Credit Suisse Asset Management has made an offer for the 55 Elizabeth Street property according to the AFR. The sale includes an as-yet-unfinished 20,000 square metre office, which will be leased to the Australian Taxation Office.
Read more
IN A positive move for middle-aged and older Australians, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission has ordered banks to relax rules that restricted borrowing capacity.
On April 23 ASIC announced it clarified responsible lending guidelines introduced in January – which inadvertently resulted in banks and non-bank lenders being rejected credit applications from middle aged people without a substantial retirement egg.
ASIC now says lenders must ask more questions to determine whether a middle aged applicant will be able to repay a 25-year owner occupier mortgage loan, if they are due, for example, to retire in the next decade.
Read moreCEDAR Woods has paid $18 million for a 273-hectare development site, offloaded by the Department of Defence. The former Bushmead
Read moreThe Holiday Inn Adelaide, has sold to Malaysian-based Hotel Grand Central, for about $35 million.
The 19-year old, 4-star hotel, includes 181 rooms, 90 car park spaces and conference facilities. It was offloaded by Singapore-controlled hotel company Tambusu.
Read moreRestaurateurs Frank and John van Haandel will pocket close to $20 million from selling St Kilda’s Prince of Wales Hotel
Read moreBlackburn is an understated eastern suburb about 15 kilometres east of the CBD, and just east of more exclusive suburbs Surrey Hills, Mont Albert and Box Hill.
Read moreWhile much of the industry’s attention of late has focused on Melbourne’s blue ribbon suburbs – record prices are being achieved in other parts of Melbourne as well.
Read more
The owners of an Essendon shopping centre have proposed a residential-based mixed-use complex with three towers – the tallest rising
Read more
AMP Capital Investors, with the Westfield Group, are set to redevelop the Macquarie Centre which they co-own in Sydney’s north.
The shopping centre upgrade will be the biggest undertaken in New South Wales for about ten years.
It will add a new David Jones store, a national supermarket chain and about 150 specialty stores – in a 30,000 square metre extension. Macquarie Centre is currently 96,500 square metres.
Read more
RENTS for houses and apartments are expected to rise this year, as a result of accelerated economic activity, housing shortages and a depressed first home buyers market.
Australian Property Monitors, a property analyst, predicts a steep rise in rents this year, following what was a quarter of growth in March 2011.
According to APM, Sydney apartment rents have increased 7.1 per cent in the past twelve months, followed closely by Adelaide and Canberra.
Read more
PLANS have fallen through to sell the Big Pineapple site on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
The 170 hectare site has been relisted for sale on behalf of receivers PPB. It’s being marketed by Ray White Special Projects.
It had been reported the site would be redeveloped into a car museum – but the advocates of this plan failed to complete a contract, according to the AFR which reported the relisting.
MYER plans to open a two-level outlet at Perth’s Lakeside Joondalup Shoppping Centre.
A copy of the company’s press release is below.
Monday 17th May 2010
MYER ANNOUNCES A NEW STORE AT JOONDALUP
Myer has today announced plans to build a new store at Joondalup, expanding the number of stores in Western Australia to seven.
BECTON Office Fund has reaped $13.75 million for Adelaide CBD’s “Blackburn House”.
A private investor has purchased the 199 Grenfell Street office on a yield of 9.35 per cent. The 18-year old 5,060 square metre office has three street frontages, and is anchored by the Department of Veteran Affairs.
Read moreTHE VICTORIAN Civil and Administrative Tribunal has given developers the green light to build a 12-level apartment building in Queens
Read moreBlack Rock is a bayside suburb about 20 kilometres south-east of, and one of the only south-eastern bayside suburbs where the streets inland from the beach, fetch more than those on Beach Road.
Read moreCar enthusiast Lindsay Fox will build a master-planned new car dealership precinct at Essendon Airport. The businessman and philanthropist this
Read more
CHINA Construction Bank (CCB) – reportedly the world’s second largest bank measured by market capitalization – has arrived in Melbourne.
Read more
NEW state premier Barry O’Farrell will personally supervise the controversial $6 billion Barangaroo urban renewal project, set to replace industrial land – part of a Sydney Harbour container terminal, that ceased functioning in 2003.
The waterside project will include a compound of skyscrapers, one being a hotel that will jut into the water, in a copy of Dubai’s Burj al Arab tower.
The redevelopment was lobbied against by Greens groups and local councils, as well as wealthy Sydneysiders whose views will be lost. Protesters argued planning approvals were flawed, and resulted from the “mates” culture of the previous state Labor government.
Read more
A REPORT by finance giant QBE says one in 10 mortgage holders would not be able to make their repayments if interest rates rise by one quarter of a per cent.
This figure rises to one in four Australians, if interest rates were to rise half a per cent.
The report also says 80 per cent of first home buyers said the property market was overvalued, but one in five said they are still likely to make a purchase in the next six months.
The report, by QBE Lenders Mortgage Insurance, says on average 25 per cent of owner occupiers are suffering mortgage stress, with this figure likely to rise in line with future interest rate rises.
Read more
Lend Lease has been appointed managing contractor for stage one of Ipswich Hospital’s expansion. The state government announced the works,
Read more
THE see-saw property market that is Perth, may be set for another battering.
A week after a controversial super-tax threatens to end many West Australian mining projects, comes news office rents in the city have collapsed 27.4 per cent over the past year.
Average rents are now $696 per square metre, per annum, according to CB Richard Ellis, which issued the report on occupancy cost drops across 176 global markets.
Read moreADELAIDE retailer Truscott Casual Living went into receivership on Saturday with debts of about $5 million.
Truscott closed four stories ahead of the receivership, but 10 stores still exist, including in the Adelaide CBD, Croydon, Mt Barker and Port Lincoln.
Ernst & Young has been appointed as receiver.
Read moreTHE ANGLICAN Trust has reaped more than $1.5 million from the sale of disused land, at the rear of its
Read moreThe township of Berwick has undergone monstrous change over the last 20 years, and for a period was the fastest growing municipality in Victoria, and one of the fastest in Australia.
Read moreGrocon’s controversial Eureka Tower picked up the highest gong at the Victorian division of the Australian Property Institute’s Excellence in Property Awards Gala Dinner held last week at Crown Casino.
Read more
AUSTRALAND Property Group has sold an as yet unbuilt office and warehouse facility in Melbourne’s west to the Australian Ballet.
The 9840 square metre facility within the Access Altona estate in Altona will start construction this month, and is due for completion at the end of the year.
Australian Ballet, a national dance group, will amongst other things, store scenery, props, lighting and costume equipment at the new facility.
Read more
UK retail giant Topshop will open its first Australian store at Sydney’s high profile Gowings Building (pictured, right).
The building, at the corner of George and Market streets, was reportedly eyed off by Spanish clothing retailer Zara, which instead chose the Westfield shopping centre nearby.
Topshop is a popular online clothing retailer, and also operates from about 20 countries. Its flagship is in London’s Oxford Street.
Read more
AUSTRALIA’s almost uninterrupted strong economic run – which has resulted in an almost uninterrupted consumption binge – is piquing the interest of North America’s major retail businesses.
According to a new report by commercial agency CB Richard Ellis, Sydney and Melbourne (image, Brighton bathing boxes, right) have both ranked in the top 10 most attractive destinations for expansion.
The survey samples 323 global retailers, and 209 cities in 73 countries.
Read more
THE Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas has sold for $35 million to Melbourne investor David Marriner.
The sale price is far less than the $90 million reportedly initially sought for the hotel, which at its peak accommodated some of the world’s highest profile business identities and celebrities.
Mr Marriner told the AFR, which reported the deal, that he plans to lodge a development proposal “that would be the catalyst for the recovery of the Port Douglas tourism sector.”
He said the hotel has been a flagship for Australian tourism for 25 years.
Read moreRETIREMENT village operator Masonic Homes has paid $10 million an aged care facility in Adelaide. The Hillsview Village complex, in
Read more
Box Hill Standard Brickworks could be replaced with townhouses next year. The 7.2 hectare property at the end of Federation
Read moreBentleigh and Bentleigh East are located about fifteen kilometres south east of the Melbourne CBD, and are surrounded by Brighton East to the west, Carnegie, Murrumbeena and Hughesdale to the north, Oakleigh South to the east and Moorabin to the south.
Read moreStylish, well dressed, well fed and well loved, South Yarra has been a magnet for Melbourne’s bourgeoisies ever since it established as a suburban retreat from town in the mid 1830s.
Read more
THE SHOPPING Centre, at 136 The Avenue, in Sunshine West, Melbourne, sold to a high net worth private investor for
Read more
Capital Corporation has started construction of a seven level, 11,000 square metre office at Sydney’s Norwest Business Park.
The development will also include 106 serviced apartments, to be managed by Toga Hospitality as the Media Apartments Norwest.
According to the AFR, which reported the new development, the new office is the first redevelopment in 20 years at Norwest, in Sydney’s north-west suburb of Baulkhum Hills.
Read more
VICTIMS of Brisbane’s floods will be able to build their homes one metre higher than the previous 8.5 metre planning limit.
The Brisbane City Council has approved a new planning instrument that it says will cut down red tape for flood victims waiting to rebuid.
Special approval will not be required for residents in flood affected areas to raise their homes to 9.5 metres.
The existing maximum height of 8.5 metres for a home’s highest point will remaing for homes not affected by the flood.
Read more
CEDAR Woods Properties has rejected a $310 million takeover offer, saying that purchase price undervalued the company.
The company confirmed a third party has offered $5.05 per share before being told it was “insufficient”.
“The Cedar Woods’ board has consistently stated that it believes the current (market) value of the company’s projects to be substantially above the value reflected in its share price,” it is reported as saying in The Australian.
Read more
New research by the HIA shows housing affordability hasn’t improved in Sydney.
Below is a statement released by the group this week:
Housing affordability nose-dived at the end of 2009 due to a combination of higher house prices, increased interest rates, and the winding-down of the first home buyers’ boost according to the latest HIA-CBA First Home Buyer Affordability Report.
Read moreThe ABCC has issued a new proceeding in the Federal Magistrates Court in Adelaide.
The ABCC alleges that the CFMEU and Mr Justin Feehan engaged in two instances of unlawful industrial action at a construction site at Flinders University, South Australia, in May 2008.
A first directions hearing has been scheduled for 30 June 2009.
A PROMINENT inner-city factory – designed by architect William Pitt, who also conceived the Regent Theatre – has been boarded
Read morePossibly the least inspiring suburb name in Australia, Airport West is located about 12 kilometres north-west of the Melbourne CBD.
Read more
TOURISM Asset Holdings Limited can expect to make between $55 and $60 million from the sale of the landmark Novotel
Read more
CONSTRUCTION of a major new 561-unit apartment complex in Sydney’s Macquarie Park should start by the end of this year.
Global property group LaSalle Investment Management has teamed with Sydney’s Toga Group to develop the regional centre in Sydney’s north.
All planning approvals for the first stage of the project are in place, according to the AFR which reported the new development arrangement.
Read more
TERRI Irwin has been quietly listing for sale properties that formed part of the $20 million portfolio she built with late husband Steve.
The owner of Australia Zoo has sold at least one property “at a loss”, and is reportedly offering more investments including four abutting the massive tourist attraction, and which were purchased as part of expansion plans. Properties have been listed for sale since late last year.
A zoo spokeswoman said it had been affected by the recent downturn in tourism. “In response to this, we have conducted an extensive and thorough review of the business and our operations, exploring all other avenues of cost savings right across the business.”
The largest property being offered, at Peachester, spreads over 95 hectares and has views of the Glass Mountains. It’s asking $1.25 million.
Read more
THE commercial property sector’s biggest fundraiser is about to peddle off again, though thankfully for the Victorian participants, the weather is looking calmer than last year.
This time, the Chain Reaction bike ride will go national – with a Queensland ride scheduled for May taking participants from Forster, in New South Wales, to Brisbane.
A Victorian ride kicks off from Sydney next Saturday March 12, and concludes in Melbourne on Friday March 18, incorporating the Labour Day public holiday. The 1200 kilometre track will take participants through the Snowy Mountains.
Some 45 riders – representing commercial and residential sectors – are registered to accept donations for the ride this year.
Read morePERTH-based syndicate Vanilla Property Investments, an arm of the Vicus Group, has paid $27.5 million for Perth’s Lifestylezone Ocean Keys shopping centre.
The three-year old centre, in Clarkson, has 19 tenancies in two buildings measuring 14,004 square metres.
The Good Guys, Bedshed, SupaCheap Auto and Beacon Lighting are amongst the centre’s biggest tenants, the AFR reports.
NETWORK SEVEN chairman Kerry Stokes has paid about $5 million for a 660 hectare farm, adjoining his own, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide.
Mt Scrub was offloaded by the Lush family, and includes 40 hectares of heritage protected native bushland, several kilometres of creeks and views over the Southern Ocean.
Read moreTwo years after failing to sell at auction for $20 million, the owners of Richmond’s a former Rosella Preserving and
Read moreAlbert Park (which includes the precinct known Middle Park, which shares the same 3206 postcode) is an exclusive inner-city suburb located about 3.5 kilometres south-west of the Melbourne CBD.
Read moreA BUNNINGS trust has sold a prominent Hoppers Crossing warehouse to a local private investor for $14.6 million.
Based on the $1.23 million annual rent the Bunnings store pays, the 2.7-hectare site, with a 8500 square metre warehouse and 310 car park bays, sold on a yield of 8.45 per cent.
Bunnings is committed to 163-169 Old Geelong Road until March 2020, when it will reportedly relocate to an as yet unbuilt warehouse nearby.
According to CBRE selling agent Justin Dowers, who marketed the asset with Mark Wizel, new Bunnings stores including those in Vermont South and in Mentone (which is nearing construction), at between 16,000 and 18,000 square metres, are about twice the size of the Hoppers Crossing store.
Read more
PARMALAT Food, a dairy group whose brands include Pauls Milk, has signed a 10-year lease for 1281 square metres of space at Frenchs Forest in Sydney’s north.
The group is reportedly paying rent of almost $180 per annum per square metre to occupy the warehouse at unit 1, 4 – 6 Aquatic Drive.
The deal, co-ordinated by Jones Lang LaSalle’s Ryan Carey on behalf of Nelia, will see fixed rental reviews of 4 per cent.
Read more