This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE 60-acre Pakenham Racecourse has finally sold for $30 million after a late scratching from the first potential buyer, the Corcoris Group.
The 25.85 ha site was put back on the market in September last year after the Corcoris Group and the Pakenham Racing Club walked away from the deal.
This was a blow for PRC which had spent 12 months negotiating the sale of the site.
The iconic site located in the heart of Pakenham, next to the railway station and approximately 60km south east of the Melbourne CBD had been tipped to fetch in excess of $50 million.
The Corcoris Group emerged as the winning bidder for the site in March last year, offering $38 million.
However following five months of negotiations, both parties could not come to an agreement on one of the conditions. PRC CEO Michael Hodge did not reveal the condition which caused the deal to fall over.
The property has now being sold to an undisclosed buyer for $30 million which is a discount to the Corcoris Group’s offer $38 million.
The buyer is believed to be an interstate developer
Industry sources said the PRC had no choice but to accept the lower offer price because the site needed to be sold in order for the club to move forward with plans to build a new $688 million 243 ha facility in Tynong, which is the first new racetrack to be developed in Victoria since the 1965 launch of Bettfair Park at Sandown.
Sources said if PRC continued to delay the sale decision, it could set back the opening of the Tynong facility to 2014 as opposed to the original Spring 2013 deadline.
The site was rezoned in 2010 by the Victorian government to allow for medium to high density residential redevelopment, as well as 10,000 sqm of commercial and retail space.
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