Australian Real Estate News
Homewares retailer ISHKA was placed into voluntary administration today. Established in Melbourne’s Glen Iris 49 years ago – the family owned chain employs 500 people and trades from 60 stores. ISHKA owner Tony Darvall said the decision follows a “catastrophic Christmas and summer” of trade. “We realised everything wasn’t right, so we’ve been flat out
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It was hoping to hit the ground running – taking on Aldi, Coles and Woolworths – but Kaufland in Australia has crashed before it even took off. The retailer announced this morning that it would cancel its local expansion plans to focus on European operations. The decision comes 20 months since the group appointed Julia
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Jeanswest’s Australia arm is the latest retailer to enter voluntary administration. The casual and maternity clothing company, founded by flamboyant Perth businessman Alistair Norwood in 1972, employs 988 staff and operates out of 146 stores nationally. In 2017 Jeanswest’s local division was acquired by a private Hong Kong company, Howsea Limited, which notes Charles Yeung
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The Entertainment & Education Group (TEEG) – the largest operator of family entertainment venues in the Asia Pacific – has opened its 300th venue, a Kingpin, at Canberra’s Civic shopping centre. Moreover TEEG – which also owns Timezone and Zone Bowling – intends to trade from 50 more outlets in 2020. The Singapore based company
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Scape Australia is paying $2 billion for a portfolio of student accommodation units in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. The property deal with Urbanest – owned ultimately by the Washington Investment Board care of M3 Capital Partners’ Evergreen Real Estate – is Australia’s biggest this year. It comes less than three months since Scape Australia
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ESR Cayman Limited will seed an office focused mandate using two wholly owned Sydney business parks, picked up as part of its $723 million takeover of Propertylink in April. The ESR Office Partnership IV (EOP IV), worth $138 million, includes: 15 Talavera Road, Macquarie Park (pictured, right) – which contains 12,630 square metres of lettable
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Charter Hall (CHC) is paying petroleum giant BP Australia Pty Limited $840 million for a 49 per cent stake in 225 convenience retail assets. The $1.7 billion portfolio consists of the majority of BP’s owned investments of this type, nationally. It has a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 20 years (most of the rental
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Harris Scarfe – one of South Australia’s oldest retail chains – entered voluntary administration today after being put into receivership by a creditor. The move comes less than a month after the company traded to Allegro Funds, a Sydney-based private equity firm known to turn around struggling businesses. In that deal, for an undisclosed sum,
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Valuation and advisory firm Landmark White has rebranded as Acumentis. The new name is derived from two Latin words, it described: acumen, meaning insight and sharpness; and mentis, which involves having sound mind, memory and understanding. Australia’s only independent, locally-owned, ASX-listed valuation company – Acumentis had a horrible year, with two data breaches resulting in
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Women’s fashion brand Bardot, which is headquartered in a historic Abbotsford warehouse on the banks of Melbourne’s Yarra River, has entered voluntary administration. The clothes maker and retailer employs about 800 staff and trades from 72 Australian stores. Its competitors include local outfits Witchery, Sportsgirl and Country Road – as well as international brands, H&M
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The world’s first KFC drive-thru only restaurant opened in the New South Wales regional town of Newcastle on Wednesday. Built on a site the business owns at 80 Lambton Road, Broadmeadow, the concept store is branded Kentucky Fried Chicken. This represents a marketing back-flip: the fast food chain renamed itself KFC globally about 30 years
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ESR Cayman Limited (ESR) has announced a deal with China Merchants Capital Investments Co Ltd (CMC) to seed a $350 million real estate platform focused on developing and owning Australian logistics investments. The new mandate will be known as the ESR Australia Logistics Trust (EALT). Hong Kong-headquartered ESR will half-fund EALT, using its existing balance
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A Brisbane childcare centre investment listed this month could be the most expensive sold in Australia – smashing the record set last year for a Sydney centre, by some $14 million. The Bowen Hills complex, three kilometres north east of the Queensland capital, is expected to trade for more than $35 million. It forms part
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INVESTORS from the United Kingdom are planning a $400 million fund to invest in cotton and wheat properties in eastern Australia.
To be known as Southern Agricultural Resources, and with Derek Shaw as a non executive director, the fund has reportedly identified for purchase 24 properties covering over 100,000 hectares in New South Wales and Queensland.
The fund has “been quietly shuffled around investment circles in the UK and USA” according to the AFR.
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LEND Lease arm Abigroup has won a major government contract.
Details of a media statement released today is below:
Abigroup has won a national Defence contract to prepare RAAF airbases around Australia to receive the air force’s next generation of fighter jets.
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THE Moreland City Council and developers are battling against the clock to get a contentious Brunswick project out of the ground before mid-2012, when the permit expires, and resident concerns regarding the proposal must then be heard.
The 284 – 294 Albert Street block was the subject of a dispute last June when Brisbane-based owner Citimark proposed a $100 million apartment compound with three towers rising between 10 and 14-levels (impression, right).
Citimark relied on a development overlay introduced in 1994 and specifically for the construction of a supermarket, next door, to bypass third-party appeal rights for its major proposal.
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REAL estate hobbyists will be able to play the part of a property entrepreneur, as part of a new internet-based computer game set to hit the market soon.
Property Mogul will allow players to acquire, sell and manage properties to build a portfolio. Players start with $1 million, and can utilize real estate agent help to advice on game based purchasers. Agents will be represented with an online avatar.
“Property Mogul is an entertaining and interactive game where players buy, sell and manage real estate, allowing them to apply real life principles to achieve virtual property tycoon status,” said Century 21 Australia chairman and owner Charles Tarbey. The agency has developed the game with Engaging Communications.
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CHARTER Hall today announced its Diversified Property Fund (DPF) has contracted to sell Spinifex House at 46 – 50 Kings Park Road (pictured, right), West Perth to a private syndicator for $28.25 million, or $6900 per square metre.
The sale price reflects a premium price of 6.3 per cent to the assets June 30, 2011 value.
Charter Hall has also sold a smaller office building at 22 – 28 Compark Circuit, in the south-east Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave. This asset sold for $6.4 million to an owner occupier.
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ONLINE real estate voyeurs may notice Australia’s capital cities looking greener, cleaner and generally more attractive.
After some 18 months touring roads in cars with roof-mounted cameras, and then blurring the scenes it recorded for privacy, internet-based business Google this week replaced much of the Australian imagery it uses for its Maps and Street View technologies (a UK Google Street image capturing a drunk man, pictured, right).
Google’s much anticipated upgrade – the first major improvement to the Street View service introduced here in August 2008 – affects capital cities, coast and country towns.
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LAND sales have plummeted over 40 per cent, nationally, according to new research issued by the Housing Industry Association.
The group expects the residential construction sector to “remain in the doldrums” until at least December. It describes 2011 as the worst stretch for land sales in about a decade.
A joint report by RP Data and HIA, and reported in the AFR, found the number of residential land sales had dropped for the sixth consecutive quarter in March 2011.
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