Sorrento Sportsgirl trumps reserve by $1.07m

Sorrento Sportsgirl was abuzz with activity of a different kind as crowds descended on the coast for the Labour Day long weekend.

Style-seeking bargain hunters were replaced with cashed up property professionals as nine bidders pushed the price of the main street fast fashion site $1.07 million past reserve.

Investment company, developer and retirement living specialist Knowles Group paid $4.07 million for the prime position at 54-56 Ocean Beach Rd in front of more than 200 people.

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CBRE agent Rorey James would not comment on the buyer, but says bidding came from far and wide for the hotly contested 574sqm site.

The Sportsgirl store at Sorrento in Victoria.

“There were two international bidders, including the opening bidder and the direct underbidder. One was mainland Chinese and the other was Vietnamese. There was one interstate owner occupier,” he says.

“The way that it was offered to the market allowed for investors, developers and owner occupiers to look at it. Because there was only two and a half years left on the lease with no option (for the tenant to remain outside of mutual agreement), it gave certainty to the timing someone could access the landholding.

“To really engage investors who traditionally want a longer lease, we had contact with the head of leasing at Sportsgirl who indicated they were interested in a longer lease, so we were able to pass that on to investors who were wanting longer than two and a half years.”

The property has a significant land component.

Ocean Beach Rd services Sorrento and Portsea — some of the most affluent areas in Victoria.

The high price paid translates to a building rate of more than $22,000 a square metre — a record for the popular coastal shopping strip.

James, who handled the sale with Mark Wizel, Nic Hage and JJ Heng, also notes three of the bidders had traditionally only been interested in residential property but are now moving into the commercial sector given signs of weakness in the residential market.

This article from the Herald Sun originally appeared as “Sorrento Sportsgirl site tops reserve by $1.07 million”.