25 Apr 2018
A NEWTOWN service station will continue pumping petrol for years to come after the landmark freehold site sold after auction.
The Caltex, leased through Bonney Energy, has been pumping petrol since at least the 1950s and holds the main lease on the corner 2000sq m property at 404-408 Shannon Ave, Newtown.
Darcy Jarman, Geelong West, selling agent Tim Darcy said a Geelong buyer purchased the freehold property immediately after auction on Friday.
The property was passed in for $1.3 million, selling for a higher, undisclosed price, he said.
“There was a mixture of interested parties, both local and external,” Mr Darcy said.
“The profile of the purchaser was a speculative investor/developer,” he said.
But Mr Darcy said the highest and best use of the site for at least the medium term was as a petrol station, although it was a key development site, with retail and commercial potential.
Subway and drive-through coffee outlet Muzz Buzz also hold leases to parts of the site.
Mr Darcy said hurdles standing in the way of redeveloping with site was remediation of the land, which has been used as a petrol station for at least 70 years, while the site is also zoned for residential use under the planning scheme, not mixed use which would allow a commercial development.
Market reviews for rentals fall due in March 2019 for Bonney Energy, in May 1919 for Muzz Buzz and September 2020 for Subway.