Abandoned Melbourne hospital tops popular listings
With property’s as diverse as a vacant pub, an abandoned hospital, a former backpackers hostel and a prime furniture showroom, this week’s top property listings on Realcommercial are as diverse as they are popular among investors.
Here are the commercial properties making waves in your state.
VIC – ABANDONED HOSPITAL’S NEW FUTURE
25 Donna Buang Road, Warburton
Preserved almost as it was when the doors closed for the final time more than a decade ago, the former Warburton Hospital is understandably generating a buzz on the outskirts of Melbourne after hitting the market as a potential site for a health retreat and medispa.
The property, built in 1912 in Melbourne’s picturesque Yarra Valley region and developed through to the completion of the hospital in 1994, the property was once renowned for its pioneering hydrotherapy centre, 8ha of parklike gardens, rehabilitation clinic and obstetrics services.
With five buildings connected to the hospital and another six outbuildings, the property is being marketed as ‘The Valley, Warburton’, and touted as a potential healthcare, aged care, retirement living or wellness retreat.
Conisbee says the unique opportunity would draw a varied buyer pool.
“It’s such an unusual one, which would be part of the reason why it’s been so popular,” she says.
“It’s a big site and not really in a traditional residential development area, so it’s one developers will be watching with interest.”
TAS – LAUNCESTON PUB YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN
The Inveresk Tavern in Launceston.
Another week, another popular Tasmanian hotel.
Launceston’s Inveresk Tavern was the most viewed property in the country last week, with investors, owner-operators and developers all eyeing the site for its wide-ranging potential.
Vacant and yet with much of the furniture and operational equipment still inside, the inner north watering hole includes the 800sqm pub and upstairs accommodation, but its the 1592sqm site and 118 metres of triple street frontage that could appeal most to buyers.
The property, only metres from UTAS’s new home, the Launceston CBD and UTAS Stadium, will be sold through expressions of interest, which close on April 15.
Will the Tasmanian market remain in investors’ sights? REA Group chief economist Nerida Conisbee says time will tell.
“Much of the interest and growth in Tasmania commercial property market has been off the back of tourism, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the wake of the coronavirus, and whether it continues to be one of the country’s strongest markets,” she says.
QLD – FORMER FURNITURE SHOWROOM
977 Ann Street, Fortitude Valley
The ground floor retail space at 977 Ann St in Fortitude Valley.
If you live in Brisbane’s inner north, you’ll know this property well.
Located at one of Fortitude Valley’s most prominent intersections, the ground floor corner site has exposure to thousands of cars each week, along with major foot traffic and a bus stop on the doorstep.
Not only was it Queensland’s most viewed property last week, it was number one in the country, such is the intrinsic interest in major retail sites.
The 785sqm showroom has 55 metres of street frontage, returns more than $350,000 per annum and is fully leased to a single tenant, with the potential to split the asset into four tenancies in future.
NSW – PETROL STATION SERVES UP A WINNER
68 Bathurst Road (Mitchell Highway), Orange
The Metro service station at Orange in NSW.
While the rest of the retail market faces challenges as coronavirus forces industry-wide closures, the fuel and convenience retail sector’s golden run shows little sign of abating.
So popular is the industry that a small Metro Petroleum service station at Orange in regional New South Wales was among the week’s most-viewed commercial listings on Realcommercial.
With a net lease to 2029 plus 20 years of options, 3.5% annual rent increases, a recent $700,000 tenant-funded upgrade and net annual rent of $227,700 plus GST, it offers kind of stable returns buyers are looking for in a volatile global market.
Conisbee says fuel retail is well positioned to weather the market’s current challenges.
“It’s those non-discretionary services and convenience retail assets that are positioned well in times like these,” Conisbee says.
For sale through Burgess Rawson, the property’s expressions of interest campaign closes on Thursday, April 2.
WA – NEW WAREHOUSE SHINES BRIGHTLY
The new warehouse facility in Forrestdale.
Underlining just how sought-after industrial and warehouse spaces are in the current market, this new facility trumped everything else in Western Australia last week.
Occupying an enormous 10,100sqm site with a 4532sqm workshop and 597sqm canopy, the Forrestdale property is up for lease, putting it squarely in the sites of major operators in the WA market.
Zoned ‘industrial’, the versatile asset has 15.5m high trusses, drive-around access for articulated vehicles and the potential for cranes to be installed.
It is currently on the market through JLL.
ADELAIDE – PRIME CBD SITE
112-114 Carrington Street, Adelaide
The former backpackers hostel in Adelaide.
With the words “Backpackers Inn” still clearly visible on the exterior wall, this Adelaide property has a storied past but could be set for a new life.
Spruiked as a potential development site or office redevelopment, the former boarding house is in the centre of the city’s CBD, offering an exceptionally rare opportunity to secure a city corner site with no lease in place.
Sitting on 377sqm of land, according to Colliers International the two-storey building has favourable zoning that would “enable a multitude of redevelopment, repositioning or owner occupier opportunities”.
Its expressions of interest campaign closes on April 16.
NT – BOARDING HOUSE
31 George Crescent, Fannie Bay
The Fannie Bay property was the most-viewed in the Northern Territory last week.
Topping the Northern Territory’s Realcommercial listings for the second week in a row, Fannie Bay’s Bayview Lodge offers an incredible 25 bedrooms and a self-contained caretaker’s flat for just $1.99 million.
Touted as a ready-to-run business, a development opportunity or a land banking play, the property is yours to own and operator, with a double-storey boarding/accommodation house and communal facilities including a recently renovated kitchen, a coin-operated laundry, games room, lounge, separate female and male bathroom facilities, outdoor spa and landscaped gardens.
Only metres from the beach and on a 1032sqm corner site, agents from LJ Hooker Commercial says Bayview Lodge has development potential and is only 10 minutes to the Darwin CBD.
ACT – BE A PART OF THE NEW GUNGHALIN
The land is a key part of the new Gunghalin Town Centre.
Momentum continues to grow behind a major development site at Gunghalin, which headlines the ACT’s commercial property listings for the second week running.
The large tract of land – one of five for sale in and around the new town centre – is zoned for mixed-use, and positioned close to the new town hub and light rail.
Occupying more than 16,000sqm, developers are already eyeing the site’s potential uses as part of a thriving future hub that includes Gungahlin Market Place, Gungahlin Village, bars, restaurants and local offices.
Block 2 Section 11, Gunghalin is for sale through Colliers International – Canberra.
