Journey Beyond has bought what is believed to be the world’s only large-scale crocodile-shaped building, expanding its presence in the Northern Territory.

The Adelaide-based tourism operator backed by US private equity firm Crestview Partners – and owner of The Ghan and Indian Pacific rail businesses – acquired the Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel from Indigenous-owned Kakadu Tourism Group.

The deal includes the associated leasehold interest from Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation Jabiru Town.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approved the purchase last week.

Journey Beyond was acquired by US tourism operator Hornblower Group in 2022 before ownership transferred to Crestview Partners following Hornblower’s restructuring two years later.

Kakadu Crocodile Hotel

Spanning 4.4 hectares in Jabiru, within the UNESCO listed Kakadu National Park about 250 kilometres east of Darwin, the 110-room Kakadu Crocodile Hotel was developed in 1988 by the Gagudju Association.

With 2671 square metres in the shape of a saltwater crocodile it is 250 metres long and 30m wide with a central outdoor swimming pool.

Mercure, an Accor brand, has run it over a decade.

Before that it was branded the Gagudju Crocodile Hotel (continues below).

With conference facilities for up to 250 guests, and 33 square metre rooms, it was marketed for its repositioning potential.

Colliers’ Karen Wales, Jackie Su and Sam Abel were the agents.

Journey Beyond expands into top end

The acquisition adds to Journey Beyond’s growing Northern Territory tourism portfolio linked to its national rail and experiential travel operations; one brand, Outback Spirit, uses accommodation there on certain tours.

Besides The Ghan, which runs between Adelaide and Darwin, the group controls Darwin Harbour Cruises.

It also holds a range of Northern Territory touring products tied to outback and remote tourism itineraries.

Earlier this year, it bought Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, with the Ayers Rock Resort in Yulura and Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre in far north Queensland.

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EXCLUSIVE

Holdfast Funds Management, formed mid-last year and chaired by former Vicinity Centres chief executive Grant Kelley, has bought its second asset in four months.

The Holdfast Group arm has again chosen Darwin, paying a speculated $7 million for Customs House at 21 Lindsay Street.

The six-level building contains 2539 square metres, 83 per cent occupied to the Federal Government a major tenant on a lease expiring in August, with two three-year options.

Australian Customs & Border Protection and the Consulate-General of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste are amongst the occupiers.

Annual net income is $615,000.

The NABERS rating is three stars.

The 726 sqm site is a block from Garramilla Boulevard, near the new $300m Charles Darwin University campus (continues below).

Holdfast portfolio surpasses $20m

Mr Kelley said Customs House was acquired at a significant discount to replacement cost.

With the deal, he added, the group’s portfolio value surpasses $20 million.

“Holdfast Funds Management was established to invest in assets offering both capital growth and above-market yields, given pricing dislocation, income security and the asset’s potential for active management,” he said.

In December, the asset manager outlaid $13.1m for 1 and 11 Stuart Highway, Stuart Park, three kilometres south east of Darwin’s CBD. That asset — Lexus and Toyota car yards leased to AP Eagers — covers 1.3 hectares.

Knight Frank’s Peter McVann and Matthew Knight marketed that property and 21 Lindsay St.

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A prominent Northern Territory office has been sold by the developer which built it 40 years ago.

Satepak House at 11 Palmerston Circuit, Palmerston, fetched $6.4 million following an off-market campaign.

With 1600 square metres in eight tenancies over two floors, it is 84 per cent occupied by the Territory government, Anglicare and Venture Housing.

Adjacent to Palmerston Shopping Centre, Goyder Square and Highway House, it also holds longer term development upside (continues below).

“Investor enquiry across the Northern Territory remains strong with demand spanning investment assets, development sites and value-add opportunities,” McGees Property’s Craig Inkster, who marketed Satepak House with Tessa Sealey, said.

Palmerston is 16 kilometres east of Darwin.

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Trilogy Funds has bought a new purpose-built investment near Darwin International Airport for the Industrial Property Trust.

Part of the Berrimah Industrial Estate, 2 Pak Street set it back $6.912 million – a 6.3 per cent net passing yield.

With 3192 square metres, including modern offices and a high clearance warehouse, it is occupied by Tyremax as a distribution centre.

The initial lease runs eight years.

There are two five year options.

The 6612 sqm site at the north east corner of Vaughan St also contains 36 car parks.

“The acquisition aligned with the trust’s strategy of targeting industrial assets that deliver income security and long-term growth potential in strategically connected locations,” Trilogy Funds Head of Property, Laurance Parisi, said.

“This is a high-spec asset that’s been custom designed for a national tenant with deeply embedded operations in the Northern Territory,” he added.

“Tyremax services a wide footprint of regional and remote customers across northern Australia,

particularly the mining and agribusiness sectors and this facility supports its long-term distribution capability in a critical catchment,” according to the executive.

“Darwin’s role as a northern logistics hub and the scarcity of comparable industrial products in the market added further strength to the investment” (continues below).

The trust now holds 17 assets worth a total $308m.

Milton office sale

Meanwhile, Trilogy has sold an inner west Brisbane office held eight years by the single-asset Milton Office Trust.

In a deal also sealed last month, it collected $19.686 million for 16 Marie Street, pre-adjusted for outstanding incentives, rental guarantee and capital expenditure requirements.

Over five levels, the investment contains 3901 sqm of A-grade rated space, 90 per cent which is occupied, and 52 car parks.

The NABERS Energy rating is 4-star.

The site spreads 1206 sqm zoned Light Industry, about two kilometres from the CBD.

Colliers’ Sam Arkell and Hunter Higgins with Knight Frank’s Blake Goddard and Matthew Barker were the agents.

Based on the fully let annual return – $1.764m – the result reflects an 8.9pc yield.

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Consolidated Pastoral Company has bought the Beetaloo Station aggregation – next to a cattle station it holds – from billionaire Brett Blundy and pastoralists Jane and Scott Armstrong.

The sale is worth $315 million on a walk-in, walk-out basis: $300m for the real estate, the balance for a speculated 80,000-90,000 head of herd.

OT Downs and Mungabroom Station also form part of the Northern Territory offering.

The Armstrong and Dunnicliff families are speculated to have paid about $20m nearly 25 years ago before carrying out the extensive development works.

Years before, the asset was part of a portfolio with 17 cattle stations held by late cattle baron Peter Sherwin.

CPC owns the neighbouring Newcastle Waters. The Beetaloo purchase will increases scale and simplify operations across a large, contiguous landholding in the Barkly Tablelands.

The Armstrongs and Blundy have progressively upgraded Beetaloo’s water, fencing and herd, building it into one of the most developed breeding and backgrounding operations in the north.

CPC buys up neighbourhood

Beetaloo Station spans 1,054,700 hectares, about 48 kilometres north east of Elliott, roughly halfway between Alice Springs and Darwin.

It is at about capacity, with 90,000 cattle, supported by extensive fencing, water infrastructure and multiple homesteads.

Colliers’ Rawdon Briggs represented Mr Blundy and the Armstrongs.

It is believed to be NT’s largest pastoral deal.

CPC is owned by the Hands Family Office, directed by UK-based private equity executive, Guy Hands, and wife, Julia.

Mr Hands also founded Terra Firma Capital Partners which previously owned CRC.

The agriculture business controls more than five million hectares of Australian farmland running some 40,000 head of cattle.

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Centuria Capital Group has bought Arrow Funds Management, the responsible entity behind the unlisted Arrow Primary Infrastructure Fund.

The off-market deal gives Centuria control of 22 agriculture and horticulture focused investments worth a total $444 million with a blended weighted average lease expiry of 12.7 years.

Baida, Nutrano, Pace Farms, Select Harvests and SunPork are amongst the highest profile tenants.

The portfolio also includes nut and fruit orchards, vineyards and an organic glasshouse.

Assets are spread across New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Centuria bolsters value of agriculture AUM

As part of the takeover, all operational AFM staff including chief executive officer, Andrew Ashbolt, portfolio manager, Brad Dichiera and accountant, Sandra Schwartz, will stay.

“Our expanded management team will remain focussed on maximising the value of APIF’s Boombera Park macadamia property for the benefit of the fund’s unitholders,” Mr Ashbolt said.

“Macadamia prices have increased significantly over the last 2 years and are expected to return to their long-term average for this season,” according to the executive.

“The outlook for the macadamia industry is positive and Boombera Park has had a good flowering and nut set this season,” he added.

“Our expanded management team will continue to prioritise the leasing or sale of this property to a third party on an accretive basis”.

Centuria’s agriculture platform will rise to $1.3 billion – up 86 per cent this financial year.

Last week we reported the asset manager bought the southern hemisphere’s largest glasshouse facility, north of Adelaide.

Including other sectors, it manages real estate worth over $20b.

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Elanor Investors Group has sold Sentinel Property Group two neighbouring large scale assets within the Darwin Business Park at East Arm, for $57.4 million.

The bigger property, 31 O’Sullivan Circuit, spreads 8.44 hectares with three cold storage warehouses built about 20 years ago.

Also with offices, two are connected via a breezeway.

The block also contains significant hardstand.

Team Global Express and the Department of Home Affairs are the occupiers.

The second property, 21 O’Sullivan Cct, spreads 4.45ha with a c2005 temperature controlled warehouse, associated office, and hardstand, leased to Toll Energy.

The blended weighted average lease expiry is 5.47 years.

Sentinel has held the city’s enormous Casuarina Square since late 2021.

“Darwin continues to be a key strategic location for Sentinel,” chief executive officer, Warren Ebert, said.

“We are long in the Northern Territory – it is the closest port to Asia, has significant resource activity and a growing defence presence,” he added

JLL’s Ben Hegerty and Hoel Scully with Colliers’ Gavin Bishop, Sean Thomson and Mark Jagla were the agents.

The master-planned East Arm estate is between Darwin and Palmerston.

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Ayers Rock Resort will be back in private hands following a c$300 million sale to Journey Beyond, controlled by New York-based equity giant Crestview Partners’ Hornblower.

Vendor, the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, via a predecessor, also outlaid $300m – but in 2010.

That seller, GPT held it 27 years; via the Voyages platform, the asset manager paid the Northern Territory Government and a syndicate, Advent, $220m.

Ayers Rock Resort opened three years earlier, in 1984, with the Yulara Town Centre and Sheraton Hotel, now Sails in the Desert, in response to a lack of guest accommodation in the area.

Any deal would come four years since Journey Beyond – then backed by Quadrant Equity Partners – divested the Eureka Skydeck in Melbourne’s Southbank.

It holds other experiential tourism assets in Australia though including The Ghan and Indian Pacific.

Ayers Rock Resort

About 25 kilometres from Uluru, the sprawling resort contains six zones, with 3, 4 and 5 star rated accommodation, 14 restaurants, an IGA supermarket and service station.

Visitation has been lower since the pandemic, seeing ILSC write down the value. It also depreciated the property (by c$85m) by 2014.

Resort employees are expected to be protected under the new ownership.

Proceeds will be tipped into other economic ventures.

Four and a half years ago, Sam Arnaout’s Iris Capital bought Alice Springs’ Lasseters complex, with casino and 205-suite IHG managed hotel.

That deal, with Singapore listed Lasseters International Holdings, was worth c$105m.

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Prominent Territory developer John Halikos has purchased Darwin’s rundown Health House and pre-committed IHG Hotels & Resorts to operate it as a voco following a luxury high-end conversion and extension.

The five level office on 2030 square metres at 87 Mitchell Street, cost $7.7 million including GST.

A development application lodged January seeks to repurpose the 5245 sqm of area as 87 suites, a gym, meeting room and restaurant.

The project will also include a pool and 45 car parks.

If approved, Voco Darwin Suites, as the property would be branded, could trade by the end of the year.

It would bring to six the number of Australian vocos including one in Gosford set to open soon.

The pre-commitment comes a week since we reported IHG leased Harry Seidler’s only hotel, in Brisbane, from ISPT, for an InterContinental.

JH Group doubles down in Mitchell Street

The Mitchell St building would be IHG’s first Northern Territory voco.

Mr Halikos’ JH Group is also in the process of buying the Poinciana Inn across the road at 84 Mitchell St for $6.6m.

Coupled with the neighbouring Noodle House, an as yet undisclosed commercial project is planned.

Elsewhere in the CBD, the investor holds the H on Mitchell Apartment Hotel, at #105. At Bynoe, about 30 kilometres south west of Darwin – but more than triple that to drive – Mr Halikos’ book also includes the Crab Claw Resort.

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A local family has sold an unusual investment, the Fannie Bay Village – a row of 11 standalone buildings on seven sites accumulated over three decades from the 1960s.

Described by the agents as “one of the most unique, well known and admired properties in metropolitan Darwin” – the amalgamation fetched $17.8 million from an as yet undisclosed local family.

With 5698 square metres, the properties are leased to a combination of office, retail and essential service occupies.

The site, covering 1-15 Fannie Bay Road, spreads 4389 sqm with 166 car parks accessed from four streets.

High yield

Despite the rarity, and development upside, the assets are selling on a high yield of nine per cent (story continues below).

Numerous offers came in, according to NTC Property’s Nigel Sharp.

The vendors operated a bakery in the strip in the 1960s before starting their buy-up.

The purchaser is a well known local family searching for a local asset for some time, the agent added.

More to come.

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