20 Apr 2016
AN old Geelong family is giving up their hold on the heart of the CBD, with three warehouses measuring a whopping 1285sq m of prime real estate up for auction this Friday, NAVARONE FARRELL writes.
IT’S not often such a substantial portion of any city’s CBD comes up for offer, let alone a grand total of 1285sq m in two allotments.
Selling agents Tim Darcy and Simon Jarman, from Darcy Jarman, believe it to be a great opportunity for potential developers, with the buildings dating back to the 1930s, retained by an old Geelong family who are freeing up the land for development.
“We’ve got the vacant land at 118 Corio St, or 2 Hays Place and that’s four separate parcels within that one parcel,” Mr Darcy said.
“It’s vacant land just being used as car parking at the moment but it provides a multitude of different possibilities for development.”
In total, 118 Corio St has a combined dual frontage of more than 60m and Mr Darcy believes the property will sell under the ham- mer for about $900,000.
“Given where it is — it sits right on the doorstep of the waterfront, right on the doorstep of Westfield, close to public parklands — it could be more than suitable for residential living,” he said.
“It could also be an office-related development — not retail related activity. Within that precinct it’s included in, some sort of medical use could work well. But everyone will have their own views, it’s all in the eye of the beholder.”
The neighbouring property at 1 and 3 Hays Place has two warehouses and aside from location are established buildings that could lend themselves to a multitude of development as they stand now.
“The unique thing about these is the character they have; they’re old Geelong red-brick warehouses, they’re two separate properties, also there’s five titles that are contained within,” Mr Darcy said.
“They’ve got a lot of their original character and charm, they’re very raw in terms of their appearance internally, not only externally.”
Mr Darcy said they could be developed as warehouses, studio offices or as warehouse offices.
“They’re very much an adaptable investment, there’s the opportunity to break the warehouses into separate warehouses,” he said, speculating at a $1.4 million price tag on the 764sq m block.
Mr Jarman said that the investment opportunity, with three street frontages included within the Activity Centre Zone is being vetted quite strongly.
“They’ve attracted strong inquiry from all sectors of the market, being developers, owner-occupiers and investors, but we’d say probably more from the developer than owner-occupier is the mar- ket,” he said.
“There will be a spread of local and beyond given the location.”
The two allotments will go under the hammer on site at 1pm on Fri- day.
“There haven’t been too many central cities sites come up for sale, especially in the central city next to Westfield and close to the waterfront,” Mr Jarman said.
“Land of that nature is extremely rare.”
The warehouses are offered with vacant possession, and with an estimated combined value of around $2.3 million, these blue chip properties are sure to see some fierce competition.
From the Geelong Advertiser, 20 April, 2016.