Ocean Grove supersite costs local buyer $5m-plus
A speculative investor has secured an Ocean Grove commercial development supersite after an expressions of interest campaign drew to a close last week.
The Geelong region buyer secured the parcel, which comprised three properties at 85 and 87 The Terrace and 96 The Parade, Ocean Grove.
The Advertiser understands the properties fetched more than $5 million in the deal, which was at the top end of what industry sources believed the combined properties could realistically fetch on the market.
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Darcy Jarman, Geelong West agent Tim Darcy says the local buyer secured the properties in one line after the vendor expressed a preference to deal with the properties as a whole, rather than individual parcels.
“The buyer has a profile of a speculative investor-come-developer,” Darcy says.
“And because the properties are encumbered with leases, it was a landbank opportunity with income and the purchaser may have an eye on the future.”
85 and 87 The Terrace and 96 The Parade, Ocean Grove are on the edge of the town’s main shopping strip.
“But it is too early to pre-empt what might happen.”
The campaign attracted a raft of local and external interest, he says.
“Ocean Grove is a very solid market and one of our more popular coastal towns,” Darcy says.
“It is on the march, there’s a lot of growth there like Torquay but it attracts a different demographic.
“This is almost 2000sqm of commercial land right in the guts in the town.”
The properties have various tenancy agreements, which allow the buyer to earn more than $300,000 in annual rental income.
The future development prospects lie in a framework to redevelop the intersections between The Parade, Hodgson St and The Terrace that could unlock two neighbouring council-owned properties (a reserve and a car park) to create a development supersite.
City of Greater Geelong director planning and development Kelvin Walsh told the Advertiser in February that a key recommendation for redesigning the intersection and improving pedestrian safety under the Ocean Grove Town Centre Urban Design Framework included the comprehensive redevelopment of the land east of Hodgson St.
The properties have more than $305,000 in annual rental income.
This article from the Geelong Advertiser first appeared as “Investor has an eye on the future with Ocean Grove supersite”.
