This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
FORMER Toplace asset, the Box Hill Town Centre development site in Sydney’s Hills district is up for grabs, as receivers look to pay off the collapsed company’s debts, while Jean Nassif remains at large.
The 29-31 Terry Road site, located around 48km out from the Sydney CBD, spans 4.3-hectares and includes an approved master plan for the construction of a 22,843sqm shopping centre and 660 residential apartments.
James Douglas, Ben Wicks and Alex Mirzaian from CBRE, alongside Mark Litwin, Graeme Russell and Chris Maher, have been exclusively appointed to manage the on-market campaign.
The project has been valued at around $600 million by industry estimates.
Since the building arm of Toplace Group fell into administration, 65 subsidiaries have gone under. All have been placed under the control of administrators Suelen McCallum and Antony Resnick of DVT Group.
While receivers and managers Joseph Hansell and David McGrath and their NSW Real Estate Solutions lead Glen Smith of FTI Consulting, were put in charge of Box Hill Projects Pty Ltd, before moving to sell the asset.
In addition to the development approval, the site benefits from a lease commitment from supermarket giant Coles Group, in addition to strong tenant and leasing interest across the speciality component.
“The residential market in north-west Sydney continues to demonstrate consistent growth in value, primarily driven by robust demand, reduced supply and investor activity being experienced within the macro market,” said Wicks.
Wicks also noted that the sale is expected to generate significant interest from traditional retail and mixed-use investors, due to this growth in the trade area.
“Town centre opportunities in Sydney growth centres are increasingly hard to acquire, particularly those that integrate the kind of residential development capable at 29-31 Terry Road,” said Maher.
“On completion, this newly built town centre retail investment becomes one of the most sought-after investments in its asset class due to its strong anchor tenant covenant, new generation build, tenant mix in a post pandemic marketplace.”
In June, an arrest warrant was issued for Nassif over an alleged large-scale fraud relating to pre-sale documents for a $150 million loan from Westpac for his company’s 900-unit Skyview Apartments project in Castle Hill.
With Toplace Group holding $1.5 billion worth of development sites and real estate investments before its collapse.
While court documents found the Toplace owes more than $1.24 billion, including $88.5 million to suppliers and tradespeople, which will be serviced by the sale of the Box Hill site.
