Commercial buyer’s agent Costi Cohen exchanges $40m of property in two weeks
Tas Costi, Shani Costi, and Simon Cohen of commercial buyer’s agency Costi Cohen.
Land in western Sydney’s Aerotropolis precinct; a Guzman and Gomez in Tamworth and a Brisbane servo were among $40m in deals over two weeks by a prominent buyer’s agent.
The haul came just after the appointment of Shani Costi as general manager at Australia’s first full-service commercial buyer’s agency, Costi Cohen, from The Rubinstein Group where she had been GM, joining her husband, Tas Costi, and Simon Cohen.
“I’m definitely finding commercial more challenging than residential,” says Shani.
“In resi, you might have a four or six week campaign and then hopefully the property sells, but now we’re on the other side, working for the buyer and doing all the due diligence … it can take a lot longer.”
MORE:
Shopping bag tycoon’s home for sale at $75m
This Brisbane servo sold to a local investor for $8m.
With two national tenants, it offers a whopper 6.425 per cent yield.
But, quite rightly, she’s “pretty impressed” at Cost Cohen’s $40m in deals. “Most of those were done in just a week, with just one of them in the second, so yes it’s been pretty full-on,” she said.
“Looking at the commercial property that’s trading at the moment, I’m not seeing too many other agencies doing that amount, but we want to continue doing a similar number of deals in the weeks ahead.”
Shani nominates service stations with extra businesses attached — like the Subway and 7-Eleven that came with the Mobil station at 2660 Logan Rd, Eight Mile Plains in Queensland that sold for $8m — as her hot ticket (though husband Tas also says childcare is another growth area).
“I’m saying to Tas, we need to buy one of these,” she laughed.
The 3029sqm site offered a 6.425 per cent yield with 7-Eleven on a secure 12-year lease to 2031, plus options to 2048, with market leading and rarely offered annual rent increases linked to the CPI with an additional 0.5 per cent.
Subway’s lease is for seven years, plus options to 2041, with a rare CPI + 1 per cent annual rent increase.
1402 The Northern Rd, Bradfield also sold for $8m.
The buyer plans to build an industrial estate on the site.
The corner site, just 14km from the CBD, is adjacent to RACQ HQ as well as Queensland’s largest office park, and comes with 21 car parks.
Having been built recently in 2019, it offers significant depreciation benefits and the latest underground infrastructure.
The buyer was a local private investor.
Meanwhile, a retail developer pounced on 1402 The Northern Rd, Bradfield, a 2.32ha block strategically located in the Western Sydney Aerotropolis Precinct, also for $8m.
Purchased at a land rate of $345 per sqm, the purchaser intends to realise the uplift of the Aerotropolis precinct and Bradfield town centre in the coming years by developing an industrial estate.
The most expensive property was a 1,771 sqm block at 1-3 Careel Rd, Avalon, which was bought by a retail developer for $11.1m.
226 Bridge St, West Tamworth, has the Mexican restaurant Guzman Y Gomez as its anchor tenant.
It sold for $5.5m and has a yield of 4.7 per cent.
Positioned in the heart of Avalon Beach, the double block comprises the fully tenanted Careel Shopping Village with adjoining residential home, offering a prime development opportunity.
The sales agents were Denis Kennelly of LJ Hooker and Nina Sokolov of Raine & Horne.
In Sydney’s inner west, a three-storey apartment block on 971sqm at 66-72 Victoria Road, Drummoyne sold to an off-shore investor for $7.55m via Knight Frank South Sydney agents Demi Carigliano, Anthony Pirrotina and James Masselos.
On a prominent corner block, it offers development potential.
And finally, a private Melbourne family snapped up the 2037sqm block at 226 Bridge St, West Tamworth, which has the Mexican restaurant Guzman Y Gomez as its anchor tenant, for $5.5m.
With its yield of 4.7 per cent net, it was a passive “set and forget” investment in a brand new building offering maximum depreciation benefits with a 20-year lease and two 10-year options to the national tenant.
The sales agent was Yosh Mendis from Burgess Rawson.
