Highpoint Homemaker Centre raises development interest

Highpoint’s Homemaker Centre could become the suburb’s next major development hub.

Listed for sale Tuesday, the centre is home to major businesses including Spotlight and Forty Winks, with industry sources tipping the 4.6ha property to make and eye watering $75-$80 million.

But agents attached to the planned sale have revealed they expect developers will be among those taking note, with scope for an apartment tower at the 179 Rosamond Rd property.

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Stonebridge Property director Lincoln Blackledge says an Architectus report commissioned on the commercially-zoned property in an activity centre indicates that a 17-storey neighbour could help push it beyond the existing 10-storey cap and into tower territory.

There’s already precedents that are materially in excess of that, which suggests that even greater heights and densities may well be achieved via the appropriate planning pathways,” Blackledge says.

While major development would be up to a decade away, some smaller scale changes to the site could be undertaken within a matter of three years, the Architectus report indicated.

CBRE’s Justin Dowers is also working on the sale and says the property will be among the most significant ever sold in the suburb.

Highpoint Shopping Centre is across the road from the Homemaker Centre. Picture: Hamish Blair.

“In terms of an existing property as it is, this would be possibly the most significant offering in that Maribyrnong precinct,” Dowers says.

If sold in the $75-$80 million range it would come close to quadrupling the suburb’s highest prior sale set at $21.56 million by a 4.86ha slice of vacant land at 291 Gordon St in 2015, according to CoreLogic records.

He adds that with Highpoint’s main shopping centre across the road as well as nearby transport options, the demand for apartments in the area will be high — and potentially even office space.

Sydney-based GPT Group, an institutional-level property investor, is selling the site. They also own the nearby Highpoint Shopping Centre, and other landmark Melbourne shopping plazas including Melbourne Central and Northland.

Other major investment groups and private investors could give developers a run for their money, Dowers adds.

“It’s a land bank with income and that will suit some high net worth individuals and families — both locally and internationally,” he says.

This article from the Herald Sun originally appeared as “Highpoint Homemaker Centre‘s high price amid highrise hopes”.