Becton Buys Tudor Court Reception Centre in Caulfield North

The purchase comes just one day after Becton was tipped to acquire a substantial part of the failed developer Estate Property Group’s property portfolio, and a month after it paid $170 million for the bulk of Fincorp’s property assets.

Becton will pay $12.5 million for the 6236 square metre development site formerly known as Tudor Court. It plans to develop the site into a boutique retirement village, to accompany similar high end products it is developing, or seeking approval to develop, in Brighton, Beaumaris, Hawthorn and Malvern.

“The Kooyong Road site supports our plans to create and own high quality retirement villages that contribute strong recurring earnings and enduring value,” said Becton chief executive officer Hamish MacDonald. “This acquisition is particularly exciting as it is a golden mile address in a tightly held area.”

Mr MacDonald said Becton is on track to produce at least 150 retirement dwellings each financial year, starting from 2009. The developer and fund manager, which has been expanding into the aged care sector since the late 1990s, recently upgraded its 2007 financial year net profit forecast by 13.5 per cent.

Its purchase of the Caulfield North property asset is sure to please private college Mount Scopus, which paid around $6 million for the site early last year, sources say. The college was expected to redevelop the site into a new school campus, but after it cleared the old buildings, decided to put it back on the market and reinvest the funds into its existing assets.

Teska Carson selling agent Michael Ludski marketed the property with Gross Waddell’s Joseph Carbone.

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Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.