Bunnings Collingwood sold in mega deal as wealthy Holckner family offloads to private investor

179-201 Victoria Pde, Collingwood, is now one of the suburb’s priciest properties.

Bunnings Warehouse in Collingwood has become one of the suburb’s priciest properties after a deal to sell it was hammered out for an undisclosed sum believed to be north of $62.5m.

And its new owner is a super-wealthy Melbourne-based private investor.

Worth more than a few snags off the barbecue, the 179-201 Victoria Pde property was put to the market with expectations of a sale price that would turn its more than $3.115m annual net income into a 5 per cent yield for its new owner — about $62.5m.

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Sold at the end of last month after five weeks on the market, it attracted offers from seven groups, mostly local private investors and syndicates, and had more than 185 inquiries from around the globe.

Burgess Rawson selling agents were tight lipped about the price and buyer, but partner Beau Coulter said they and the vendors were “very pleased with the result” and that it was the third priciest Bunnings ever sold in Victoria.

Three frontages have helped to make the site accessible enough to suit the hardware chain’s high turnover business model.

However, industry sources do not believe the 5376sq m address currently tenanted to Bunnings Warehouse eclipsed the suburb’s current $70.7m property price record, set by an office building development at 86-90 Langridge St in November last year.

Mr Coulter said buyers were attracted by the popularity of the tenant as well as the size and three frontages of the property, that is Bunnings’ closest store to the Melbourne CBD.

That address is expected to be the future home of supplements firm Swisse Wellness as well as skincare group Aesop.

Ironically, the Bunnings site was formerly an office building that was transformed into the popular tradies and renovators haunt in 2016 by the vendors — the wealthy Holckner family.

While currently heading Encore Tissues, the Holckners have historic associations with the well-known Smorgon family dating back to when they founded Smorgon Steel.

Property records show they paid $30.7m for the sizeable chunk of the inner suburb in 2005, and it is understood 10s of millions more was spent on a retrofit to create the Bunnings.

The prominent location is one of the closest hardware stores to Melbourne’s CBD.

The hardware giant’s lease expires in 2027, but it has four five-year options at the end of it. However, development potential was a part of the sale with scope for the sprawling property to be upgraded further in the future.

Mr Coule said the sale reflected ongoing high demand for properties of scale in the inner Melbourne market, despite the rising cash rate reducing borrowing capacities for many.

“There’s still a lot of equity out there and they want to put it in blue-chip properties like this,” he said.

Mr Coule said the priciest Bunnings sold to date in Victoria was the $99.6m Hoppers Crossing store that changed hands last year, though that deal included an Amart furniture store.

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