This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Peppers Airlie Beach resort in north Queensland is being offered for sale by receivers McGrathNicol.
The 4.5-star resort is on a 1.8-hectare site and is being marketed by CBRE’s Wayne Bunz, Paul Fraser and Hayley Manvell, in conjunction with PRD Nationwide Airlie Beach.
The offering comprises 59 of the 106 strata apartments in the complex, with the remainder privately owned.
The sale includes 56 one, two and three-bedroom apartments and three 4-5 bedroom villas, as well as the resort management rights for the entire complex and central facilities such as the resort reception, Tides Restaurant and Bar, a meeting and conferencing venue and a commercial tenancy leased to Endota Day Spa.
“The sale of this asset presents an exceptional counter-cyclical opportunity for buyers,” Fraser said. “Values in regional areas are significantly below replacement cost and this imbalance, combined with the strong performance of Australia’s major leisure markets in a lower Australian dollar environment, is spurring buyer interest in available investment opportunities.”
The resort is currently managed under an agreement with Mantra Group operating as its luxury brand Peppers.
“The sale offers a purchaser the opportunity to sell down the individual apartment stock under a management rights model, whilst also allowing an incoming owner the flexibility to sell the apartments on either a short, medium or long-term basis,” Manvell said. “Further opportunities exist, with the ability to separate the restaurant and bar from the management rights business and lease this to a third party,”
The agents said the Airlie Beach region has been the subject of renewed investor interest following strong rebound in tourist arrivals, which led the Whitsunday Coast Airport to become Australia’s fastest growing airport in January 2016.
“We have been inundated with enquiries for leisure assets of late, particularly from mainland China. Investors are looking to enter key leisure markets and capitalise on their potential for further growth, particularly in light of the softening Australian dollar, which is creating favourable market conditions for the local tourism market,” Bunz said.
Australian Property Journal
