Commercial and residential property news
SHOPPING centre giant Westfield has come under attack from Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk.
Mr Quirk said Westfield’s decision to charge for parking at the Westfield Chermside shopping centre after three hours was “a slap in the face” for residents.
The changes, to be introduced in October, should make the car park more efficient and “maximise space for genuine shoppers”, according to a Westfield representative.
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CROMWELL Property group has sold its only West Australian asset.
The Coffee Source has paid $8.6 million for the Cannington property at 78 Mallard Way (pictured, right).
The asset includes a 12,438 square metres of warehouse, and land for expansion. It’s book value was $8.4 million, according to the AFR which reported the sale.
Read moreA NEW $200 million office building will be developed in Adelaide, after the Australian Taxation Office agreed to be anchor tenant.
The ATO, which also recently anchor tenanted a Melbourne building some say it didn’t need, will occupy 30,000 square metres of a building at Franklin Street, being developed by Western Australian based Aspen Group.
Aspen’s Tower 8 project will be bound by Waymouth, King William Flinders and Bentham streets, according to Adelaide Now, which announced the deal yesterday.
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TOP Gear television show host James May is looking for labourers to help build a new home almost made entirely of Lego.
The life-sized double-storey house will include a staircase, toilet and shower, and is expected to use more than three million Lego bricks, that have been donated by the Czech Republic.
The new Lego home is earmarked for a site at the Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey, and its development will appear as part of a new television series: Toy Stories.
Read moreLIQUIDATORS of Queensland’s Quoin Island have dropped the sale price to $1.5 million, after attempts to sell the property for
Read moreCarlton is located immediately north of the Melbourne CBD, and is bound by North Melbourne and Parkville to the west, Carlton North to the north and Fitzroy to the east.
Read moreIt was once the heart of the citys financial centre, and is said to occupy the best position on Collins Street. But for almost fifteen years, the former Australian Stock Exchange Melbourne headquarters at 357 Collins Street has sat derelict and vacant.
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INGENIA Communities, formerly controlled by Dutch investment giant ING and from earlier this month, a separate ASX listed company, has sold the Lovely Banks Gardens near Geelong.
The 65-unit village Corio village sold conditional on a rezoning which would allow for a residential redevelopment. A Victorian developer is said to be purchasing the site near Lindsay Fox’s Avalon Airport.
In 2010, Ingenia ruled the “poor performing” asset as “non core” to its portfolio. It will pump funds from the sale into other developments, conversions and acquisition opportunities it is hoped will earn a return-on-investment of some 20 per cent.
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MARKHAM Corporation and McDonald College will develop a $90 million apartment complex on the college’s campus, in North Strathfield, in western Sydney (pictured, right).
Markham is working with the school redevelop the southern quarter of the George Street campus into a complex with between 100 and 200 flats, each priced at “less than $600,000”, according to the AFR which reported the proposal
The college will make money from capital gain valuations of the site, as well as from apartment sales. Markham will build a new boarding house facility on the balance of the site.
A RECORD number of New Zealanders are moving to Australia.
According to Statistics New Zealand, 3300 New Zealanders moved to Australia in May – and that figure is net (meaning it cancels out those who are relocating the other way).
The Christchurch earthquakes and aftershocks, as well as a weak economy, is driving the trend. Christchurch is New Zealand’s second largest city and did have a population of 300,000.
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THE developer of Queensland’s landmark Q1 apartment building, on the Gold Coast, is involved in a legal dispute with its tenants.
According to documents lodged with the Supreme Court, the body corporate of the building claims Sunland’s Q1 had “contained or developed defects in the coating system” since construction.
The body corporate claims defects and corrosion in the building would “compromise long term durability and appearance of Q1 and require repair.”
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FINBAR Group and LHK Holdings have paid almost $5 million for a 7800 square metre development site in the Perth suburb of Dianella.
The company plans to build apartments and a commercial zone on the site.
Read moreAUSTRALAND has made about $1.35 million from the sale of a 1.55 hectare vacant industrial site in Adelaide. The 21
Read moreWORK is underway to renovate a rundown property in the ritzy North London Hampstead street dubbed “billionaires row”. Four tradespeople
Read moreOWNERS of homes in the southern Brisbane suburb of Holland Park West are outraged a house under construction has breached
Read moreCanterbury is consistently Melbourne’s most expensive eastern suburbs, according to quarterly research released by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.
Read moreA 1970s double fronted, double-storey brick veneer is expected to smash the record as the most expensive pile of real estate in Williamstown.
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TWENTY years after being diagnosed with breast cancer, Australian entertainer Olivia Newton-John opened a landmark rehabilitation centre in Melbourne’s north-east this month (pictured, far right).
Olivia Newton-John thanked the Baillieu Liberal government for finalising funding for the $189 million Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre, which includes day and radiation oncology and complementary therapies such as acupuncture, massage, yoga, meditation and homeopathy.
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CROWN International Holdings Group has paid $27 million for a North Sydney development site with plans and permits for a 180-unit apartment complex.
The 1600 square metre site at 211 – 223 Pacific Highway will be added to the portfolio of the Sydney-based builder, which according to the AFR, controls some $1 billion worth of apartments in local developments in Parramatta, Rhodes and above the Top Ryde City shopping centre in Ryde.
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RENTERS want landlords to pay them greater respect, and they want to be able to customise their homes, according to a recent survey by online group rent.com.au.
The survey also rated as top renter concerns: the ability to own a pet, hang artwork and photos, work on gardens, or enjoy better quality kitchens. Renters also called for home-inspection times that are outside of business hours, and for more time to inspect homes, so as to “get a feel”.
The survey, reported in various press, does not disclose the number of survey respondents. However the issues have presented for decades to landlords.
Interestingly the survey raised an issue of advertised rents often differing from prices given during inspections.
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THE second stage of the $1.4 billion Queensland Children’s Hospital – worth some $900 million – has been won by Abigroup, part of Lend Lease’s national infrastructure business.
The project aims to deliver 359 hospital beds, and is due for completion in early 2004.
A Lend Lease statement about the contract is copied below.
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THE value of apartments within inner-city Perth is set to surge this year, linked to stronger corporate profits.
Research group MacroPlan says slowing growth in corporate profits in 2008 and 2009 led to the cancellation or deferral of some mining construction work, and that as a consequence, commercial and residential development also slowed.
In its Outlook for Perth Housing Construction report, analyst Jason Anderson says this trend should be reversed as demand for construction contractors and professional services firms increases. Several major Western Australian mining projects are back on the cards, too.
Read moreADELAIDE’s Chinatown precinct is set for a $150 million residential and commercial project.
A joint venture between listed solar energy firm Advanced Energy Systems and Chinese property group Tangcheng Group is proposing a six-storey, 300-unit apartment project for the 171 – 207 Gouger Street site.
The majority shareholder in AES is billionaire Chenghui Xu, the AFR reports.
Read moreBOVIS LEND LEASE said it has been subpoenaed, and will cooperate fully with authorities, regarding concerns about billing practices adopted for a number of its United States developments, including the New York Mets stadium, and the September 11 memorial, in New York.
Read moreCharter Hall Group (“CHC” or “Charter Hall”) announces a $73 million listed equity raising. Gandel Group (“Gandel”) will invest up
Read moreCamberwell is recognised as one of Australia’s most classically beautiful suburbs, located at the centre of Melbourne’s leafy east.
Read moreInvesta is believed to be formalising a deal to buy the last two development sites at the Botanicca Corporate Park in Richmond.
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THE Australian Property Growth Fund, as trustee for the Domaine SEQ Growth Fund which is being wound up, has sold the Calamvale Central Shopping Centre in Brisbane for $62 million.
The sale price reflects a yield of passing yield of 8.15 per cent.
The 17,326 square metre complex at 662 Compton Road in Calamvale, in the city’s southern suburbs, is anchored by two retailers until 2027: Woolworths and Big W. It also includes 61 specialty stores.
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AN INDUSTRIAL-retail complex leased to five tenants including Officeworks and Big Blue River Meats has sold for $7.8 million, and
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DESPITE warnings from Queensland independent Bob Katter, overseas investors are continuing to snap up Australian agriculture land.
This time, the Swedish National Pension Fund is teaming with US institutional investor TIAA-CREF, making a commitment to invest more in Australia.
Through its Westchester Group, TIAA-CREF already controls 180,000 hectares of cropping country. The “TIAA” refers to the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, which took an 85 per cent controlling interest in Westchester Group late last year.
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LEND Lease has announced a $100 million contract to deisgn pricing, delivery and commissioning of the first Pacific National coal rolling stock maintenance facility near Nebo in Queensland.
The move will help Lend Lease expand infrastructure operations into Central Queensland.
Below is a Lend Lease statement about the deal:
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Radio broadcaster Steve Price and his partner, Wendy Black, are understood to have purchased a terrace near South Yarra’s Royal
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DEVELOPER Lang Walker has been given the green light to build a $2 billion residential village in Adelaide’s north.
The South Australian government approved the first stage of the project, which will provide 614 houses and a town centre.
The Buckland Park project will spread over 1340 hectares, and offer 12,000 housing lots over the next 26 years.
The GPT Group (GPT) today announced further progress in relation to the Group’s non core asset sales program, with an agreement to sell the Group’s interest in the Alliance portfolio (previously warehoused within the Hamburg Trust platform) to a syndicate of private investors. The portfolio was originally acquired to seed a closed end fund.
On completion of the sale, GPT will have sold approximately $650 million of non core assets since December 2008. This is in line with the Group’s strategy to exit non core portfolios and markets.
Read moreHousing starts in Victoria are set to rise over the next few years thanks to improvements to new home buyer
Read moreHome to Deakin University’s biggest campus, Burwood is located about 16 kilometres east of the CBD, and is land locked by Camberwell and Glen Iris to the west, Surrey Hills and Box Hill to the north, Ashwood and Mount Waverley to the south.
Read moreAustralian Bureau of Statistics data confirms what agents have been saying all year – Victorian investors are out in force.
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PRAMERICA, US-based global real estate investor, is reported to be paying about $75 million for a 16-level office building in Melbourne’s CBD.
The 16,200 square metre office at 575 Bourke Street was offloaded by the Valad Property Group’s V Fund. The fund manager acquired the asset for $50.87 million in 2005.
Pramerica’s acquisition, reported in The Australian’s Primespace section, is the latest in a string of national commercial assets.
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The North Epping property which was the scene of a multiple murder in 2009 has hit the market with a
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RECRUITMENT firms say foreign developers that have been snapping up Australian assets are actively in the office market for lease.
Groups looking to establish or expand Australian operations include Asian broker and fund manager CLSA, global sovereign funds such as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Government of Singapore Corporation and South Korea’s Investment Corporation.
LaSalle Investment Management and the US-based pramerica Real Estate Investors are also looking for space, according to the AFR.
Read moreSUNCORP is reported to be close to selling a Brisbane CBD office building known locally as “the Wedding Cake” because of its layered design.
The 18-level, 16,340 square metre office at 36 Wickham Terrace is understood to be “under contract” for about $65 million.
The sale, to a private investor, is part of a plan by Suncorp to consolidate ten office locations in Brisbane, to two. In Brisbane, Suncorp is reportedly in the market for between 27,000 sqm and 30,000 sq m of new space to occupy by the end of 2013.
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WESTERN Australian based developer and fund manager Brookfield Multiplex has paid $25.3 million for a commercial development site in the City Square development site.
Brookfield is expected to build a 14-level office on the site, which was also reportedly competed for by the Charter Hall Group.
Aspen Group also reportedly conducted due diligence on the site.
Read moreLOGISTICS giant Toll NQX has leased a 20,000 industrial property at billionaire property developer Lang Walker’s Vicinity Industrial Estate, in Adelaide.
Vicinity is near the mouth of Adelaide’s $560 million Northern Expressway (http://www.northernexpressway.sa.gov.au/).
Mr Walker told the AFR Toll’s lease vindicates his decision to focus on developing industrial estates on key transport routes and where the government is investing.
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Lend Lease Corporation Limited (“Lend Lease”) today announced that its UK public private partnerships (“PPP”) business, Catalyst Lend Lease has achieved financial close with Lancashire County Council on the £55 million (approximately A$110 million) Phase 3 and a £16 million (approximately A$32 million) academy as part of the East Lancashire Building Schools for the Future (“BSF”) programme in England.
Read moreLend Lease Corporation Limited (“Lend Lease”) today announced its subsidiary, Bovis Lend Lease Pty Limited (“Bovis Lend Lease”), as part
Read moreBundoora is located about 20 kilometres north of the CBD, and is bound by the suburbs of Thomastown to the west, Mill Park to the north, Watsonia to the east and MacLeod to the south.
Read moreMacquarie Direct Property Fund has revealed itself as the buyer of the former Zurich office building at 71 Queens Road.
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DAYS before the federal labor government’s carbon tax is set to take effect, several Victorian councils have discovered they have been added to the list of some 500 companies set to pay.
The councils of Hume, Geelong, Wyndham and Bendigo have been included on the mystery list of polluters set to pay the tax. Several other councils in Victoria and around Australia are expected to be added in coming days.
Voters and the business community have criticised the hush-hush method the Labor government has decided to announce the polluters which will pay the tax.
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SUPERANNUATION fund REST is believed to be close to selling a Sydney CBD office building to Dexus Property Goup for $60 million.
The 19-level, 10,896 square metre office at 50 Carrington Street (pictured, right) overlooks Wynyard Park and includes ground floor retail space.
Nine tenants lease the building which is about 25 per cent vacant. REST purchased the building from British Property Giant MEPC in 1998 as part of a portfolio.
HASSAD – the agricultural arm of the Qatari government – is in negotiations to buy five properties in western Victoria, in a deal reportedly worth $45 million.
The portfolio will bring the value of Australian assets purchased by the overseas group in the past twelve months to over $100 million.
Hassad is said to be considering purchasing another major property in NSW from one of the Victorian vendors.
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WALL Street heavyweight Blackstone Group, which recently announced an $806 million buyout of the debt laden Valad Property Group, has withdrawn a high-profile hotel from the market.
The 22-year old Sheraton Noosa Resort and Spa in the Sunshine Coast has frontage to the Hastings Street retail strip, and mooring facilities to the Noosa Valley. With 176 rooms and on almost 10,000 square metres of land, Valad listed the hotel for sale in March, with price expectations of about $70 million.
Valad paid $93.6 million for the resort in 2007. The value has dipped to about $85 million, according to the AFR which reported the resort being withdrawn from sale.
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A MAJOR residential development site in Yanchep, a precinct of Perth once known as a weekend getaway destination, has hit the market for the second time in three years.
The 10,000 square metre block, divided into four titles, were purchased by boutique Perth developer Match for $13.2 million at the peak of Perth’s real estate market in 2007.
Colliers International’s head of department project residential, land marketing and tourism, Nick DiLello said the site may achieve that price again, now the market has recovered somewhat from the downturn.
Read moreADELAIDE’s Chelsea Cinema will be sold.
Despite a public campaign to rescue the 85-cyear old cinema, Adelaide Now has reported the Burnside Council is seeking expressions of interest, which would see the 1810 square metre State Heritate listed cinema site sold.
An adjoining 725 square metre block at 39 May terrace is also available as part of the EOI campaign, set to close on February 26.
Read moreConsumers spent $19.35 billion on household goods, clothing, and at cafes and restaurants in April, according to ABS retail trade
Read moreMADONNA has reportedly spent between $US33 and $US40 million for a home in New York’s ritzy Upper East Side.
Read moreBulleen is an quiet suburb located north of Balwyn North, on the eastern banks of the Yarra River.
Read moreYarra Valley Farms has leased a 2800 square metre office building and warehouse in the inner-western suburb of Yarraville.
Read moreFairfax can expect 20-$25 million from its high-tech printing and distribution facility at Westmeadows near Melbourne Airport. The media group
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CAR maker Audi has leased Mosman office space formerly occupied by furniture maker Jimmy Possum.
The prestige car maker will pay annual rent of $539,888 to occupy the ground level space at 339 Military Road (pictured, right).
The space is currently undergoing a refurbishment according to the AFR which reported the lease.
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BEHIND the scenes, Channel Nine has been busy lodging applications to effectively rebuild the quartet of neighbouring terraces that are the subject of heavily marketed TV show The Block, which airs from June 20.
Nine agreed to buy the four rundown single-storey homes at 37-43 Cameron Street for $3.6 million soon after they hit the market last year. Settlement occurred in February, at about the same time new planning applications were lodged (and subsequently approved) by the City of Yarra council.
Eleven months ago, the terraces were offered for sale with an adjoining 446 square metre parcel of land (addressed 31 – 35 Cameron Street) which Nine is currently using to store materials and machinery.
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STOCKLAND Capital Parters, which is responsible for the Stockland Direct Office Trust No 1 (SDOT1) has sold a 50 per cent stake in Brisbane’s Waterfront Place project for $216.4 million.
The Sydney-based developer will also sell 50 per cent of the entity owning the adjacent Eagle Street Pier project to the Melbourne based Future Fund for $16 million, on the basis o f a completed refurbishment.
Stockland will retain a 50 per cent interest in both projects according to an announcement made today (copied below).
The Waterfront place office rises 36 levels and fronts the Brisbane River. Eagle Street Pier is a low-rise 6,200 square metre shopping centre which is currently being refurbished. The sale price for this asset translates to 7 per cent. Sale price coming soon…
Read moreFREMANTLE Surf Lifesaving Club and Sydney-based developer Mirvac have signed a $4.1 million agreement to build a new facility on
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EXCLUSIVE figures released to The Advertiser last week, shows Adelaide’s metropolitan median rose 6.25 per cent to $382,500 in the December 2009 quarter, compared to the same period in 2008.
State wide, medians increased 5.77 per cent to $352,000.
Somerton Park, just south of Glenelg South, reported the strongest median value growth – up 35.64 per cent since last year. It was followed by Broadview (28.42 per cent) and Willastown (22.37 per cent).
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Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have reportedly paid $6 million for a penthouse in Mirvac’s Latitude development at Sydney’s Lower
Read moreTHE WIDOW of television producer Aaron Spelling is selling her Californian mansion, in a deal expected to be worth $US150 million – and set a new record price for the country.
Read moreBrunswick is about six kilometres north of Melbourne, connected to inner-city precincts below (Carlton North, Fitzroy North) and more traditional
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BILLIONAIRE businessman Lang Walker has decided against another fight with Kew residents, east of Melbourne.
Announcing the final stage of the $400 million Kew Cottages site redevelopment this month, his company, Walker Corporation, shelved plans for five level apartment complexes capable of including 100 flats, and instead will build eight standalone $2 million homes on the 3240 square metre final portion of land.
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WESTFIELD Group is reportedly considering buying the Wynyard Complex in the Sydney CBD.
The purchase from Thakral Holdings is for a reported $250 million and includes a small retail centre with access to George Street and which forms a concourse entrance to the Wynyard train station.
The asset also includes the 446-room Menzies Hotel, the Thakral House office building and a 335 bay car park, according to selling agency Jones Lang LaSalle.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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