This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
SUPER A-Mart founder and billionaire John Van Lieshout has collected more than $23 million of Queensland property assets, picking up a city fringe development site as well as a large format retail centre to create a landholding of over six hectares in Brisbane’s south.
In MacGregor, the fully occupied large format centre was purchased for $17.5 million. It is on 1.11 hectares of land on busy Kessels Road adjoining Van Lieshout’s other properties.
The centre has a weighted average lease expiry of 3.84 years by income, and is leased to nine national and international tenants in the furniture, automotive, fitness and entertainment industries including Snooze, Mercedes Benz and Oz Design Furniture.
Christian Sandstrom and Justin Bond of Knight Frank managed the sale of 520 Kessels Road for a private family. The property has 8,174 sqm of lettable area on an expansive with more than 55 metres of high-exposure frontage to the busy Kessels Road, around 11 kilometres from the Brisbane CBD, and has 125 car parks.
Sandstrom said the expressions of interest campaign generated more than 110 enquiries from local and interstate investors.
“Properties in this sought-after location, in the heart of the Kessels Road commercial and retail precinct, are rarely offered for sale, so buyers were keen to seize on the opportunity to purchase the asset,” he said.
Bond said there were no major capex requirements, outstanding incentives or COVID relief agreements remaining for the property, which was an added drawcard for investors.
“We are seeing strong investor competition for quality opportunities in the market, which are limited at the moment.”
Neighbourhood retail and large format retail assets accounted for $3 billion of total retail transaction volumes in 2020 – almost two thirds of all investment during the year – as the build-up of household savings and increase in home building and renovation activity drove an investment shift to non-discretionary retail assets and homeware-based tenants on long leases. The trend has carried through into the early part of this year.
Meanwhile, Van Lieshout has also just acquired a DA approved boutique residential scheme in Newstead for $5.7 million through his private property investment and development company Unison Projects.
The site spans 1,821 sqm site with 30 metres street frontage and has mixed use zoning. DA approval is for a nine-storey tower with 52 apartments and which integrates an existing 1,012 sqm heritage commercial and retail building, the former Federal Boot Factory.
Established 20 years ago, Unison Projects now holds tourism, residential, industrial, and commercial assets.
