Property Focus

 

Industrial tenants are heading to the Central West

Carolyn Cummins   Industrial property is under the spotlight with sales transactions and stronger leasing rental deals concluded as investors see the sector benefitting from low supply and high demand, particularly near new infrastructure project.

Global investment in Australia at new highs

Brookfield property is selling its half share of the World Square shopping centre and car park at 580 George Street, Sydney through JLL.

Carolyn Cummins   The asset sales by Charter Hall, Brookfield Property and DEXUS Property, will set the pace for a busy end to the 2015 calendar year.

Sydney plays catch-up amid central city apartment demand

A Sydney office tower at 175 Castlereagh Street has the potential for conversion to apartments.

Carolyn Cummins   While there may seem to be a glut of inner city apartments, data reveals it is more a case of a market undersupply for the past decade in Sydney.

Luxury brands go to great lengths to find right spot for Sydney shops

An artist's impression of the new retail development at the MLC Centre.

Carolyn Cummins   In a sign of the shift in shopping demographics, more overseas tourists are visiting to take advantage of the lower Australian dollar and buy luxe items.

Looking a lot like Christmas

Pitt Street shopping mall will soon be inundated with Christmas shoppers.

Carolyn Cummins   This weekend is considered a bonanza for retailers as avid fans from the Australian Football League (AFL) and the National Rugby League (NRL) snap up no end of football paraphernalia to support their teams in the finals.

Let's get physical in a corporate body workout

The new, executive-style changing rooms at the revamped MLC Centre.

Chris Davis   With environmental ratings well established across the office sector, buildings are being measured on how they promote good health among occupants.

Capital Gain: CBUS proposes 13 levels for busy Collingwood corner

CBUS's plans for  61-71 Wellington Street and 37-39 Langridge Street.

Marc Pallisco   Melbourne's CBUS Super – a $31 billion building, construction and allied industries fund – has applied to build a 13-level mixed use building atop a low-rise brick factory at a busy Collingwood corner.

Education matters for Brookfield Multiplex

Brookfield Multiplex will build the $125 million Biological Sciences building on the Kensington campus in Randwick.

Carolyn Cummins   The $125 million Biological Sciences building at the University of NSW is the latest Brookfield project.

Squint/Opera animates green workspace with 3D solutions

SIBLING's revamp of the Squint/Opera office in Richmond.

Stephen Crafti   Squint/Opera shows what can be achieved by "thinking outside the box"

Deals and Deeds

HSD Systems Marketing has sold an 8238-square-metre industrial property at 174 Andrews Road, Penrith to Mills Investment Group.

Carolyn Cummins   Recent commercial property transactions in and around Sydney.

World Square shopping centre up for grabs

Brookfield Property is selling its half share of the World Square shopping centre and car park through JLL.

Carolyn Cummins   One of the busiest retail strips in the country at World Square, 580 George Street, Sydney is on the market as the co-owner, Brookfield Property Partners, focuses its attention on the proposed $1 billion Wynyard Place project.

Property spruiker Jamie McIntyre called a ‘conman’ by senators seeking lost millions

Property spruiker Jamie McIntyre was grilled at a Senate hearing on Wednesday over missing investment funds.

Simon Johanson and Royce Millar   Property spruiker Jamie McIntyre was accused of being a "conman" and an "evasive witness" in a fiery Senate committee hearing.

Investors look north and south as Sydney hits peaks

An artist's impression of Gurner's third apartment tower in FV series in Brisbane.

Nicole Lindsay   Investors, increasingly put off by Sydney's sky-rocketing prices, are turning to Brisbane and Melbourne apartments to stock their portfolios.

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Slater & Gordon under spotlight over Kaye-linked schemes

Henry Kaye

Royce Millar, Ben Schneiders, Simon Johanson   High profile law firm Slater & Gordon faces a Senate grilling on Wednesday over its role in questionable land banking schemes linked to infamous property spruiker Henry Kaye and into which mum and dad investors have tipped in more than $100 million.

Wynyard Place gets green light

Brookfield Property Partners has been given State Significant Development (SSD) approval for the proposed $1 billion Wynyard Place.

Carolyn Cummins   Wynyard railway station is set to get a major facelift as part of the $1 billion Wynyard Place project.

DEXUS raised $95m from sale

Dexus Property has sold a 50 per cent share in 36 George Street, Buroood.

Carolyn Cummins   DEXUS Property has raised $95 million through the sale of a half share of its site at 36 George Street, Burwood, as part of its ongoing strategy to sell down exposure to non-core assets.

Eyewear shop sells for $15m

A local Malaysian-linked investor has paid $15 million for a prime Bourke Street property.

Simon Johanson   A local Malaysian-linked investor has paid $15 million for a prime Bourke Street property leased to eyewear retailer OPSM.

Buyer may lose $45m with Eynesbury deal in jeopardy

The deal for the massive Eynesbury estate may fall over.

Simon Johanson   A $60 million deal to sell the vast Eynesbury estate in Melbourne's west looks in jeopardy after listed developer Villa World issued a default notice to the Malaysian-backed buyer, potentially forfeiting $45 million already paid.

More high-rise for Box Hill

820 Whitehorse Road set a record for land value in the Box Hill CBD of $10,588 a square metre.

Nicole Lindsay   Another tower is set for the Box Hill skyline after a local developer paid $18.18 million for a two-storey office building.

Bounce Backpackers sold for $18.3m

Bounce Backpackers in the Sydney CBD the latest in a tranche of sub $25 million transactions to offshore buyers.

Carolyn Cummins   Hotels and backpacker hostels are the target of investors as they get a foothold into the improving tourism sector.

Croydon's Civic Square nets $30m as investors shop around in east

The Civic Square Shopping Centre has been sold to a Chinese investor.

Simon Johanson   The Civic Square Shopping Centre in Croydon has sold on a sharp passing yield of 6.17 per cent.

St Leonards 'superlot' of nine houses reaps $66m

An artist's impression of a proposed development in St Leonards, where a block has been sold for $66 million.

Carolyn Cummins   A private Hong Kong-based investor has paid $66.06 million for a lot of nine St Leonards houses, reaping the owners an average of about $7.34 million apiece.

Ivanhoe's building boom gathers pace

Cirqua in Lower Heidelberg Road is one of several new developments in Ivanhoe.

Nicole Lindsay   A building boom is underway in the leafy north-east Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe, with four projects started in the centre, four in planning and several more going up in nearby Heidelberg and East Ivanhoe.

New research centre builds up advanced prefab industry piece by piece

Prefabricated building

Philip Hopkins   The ARC Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing aims to boost the prefab building industry.

Market Wrap

First State will take over the Brentford Square shopping centre at 502 Canterbury Road in Forest Hill.

A Hong Kong based private investor paid $4.8 million on a firm 4.35 per cent yield for a retail and office investment at 669-671 Glenferrie Road.

Offsite construction aids Porsche dealership in Doncaster

The new Porsche dealership in Doncaster.

Philip Hopkins   Car dealers love big display areas to show off their toys, but the architects faced a problem with the new Porsche dealership in Doncaster – the site area was only 1674 square metres.

New planning rules cut developers down to smaller size

AXF Group has withdrawn plans to demolish the Total House car park in Russell Street.

Simon Johanson   Planning Minister Richard Wynne has stunned the property industry by introduiong interim planning rules requiring minimum setbacks and plot ratios, effectively reining in extremely tall and contentious skyscrapers.

Titanic journey to avoid the icebergs

<i>Illustration: John Shakespeare</i>

Carolyn Cummins   It seems the allure of the desert has won over the lights of Manhattan, or else there are fewer icebergs to hit, but whatever the reason Aussie battler Clive Palmer has changed the route of the maiden voyage of his ambitious Titanic II.

Charter Hall's $700m property clearout

Wentworth Plaza, 9 Wentworth Street, Parramatta, part of five office assets being sold by Charter Hall.

Carolyn Cummins   In one of the biggest clearance sales of the year, property giant Charter Hall is aiming to raise as much as $700 million from a swag of office and industrial and business parks.

They come to Victoria, Australia's fastest growing state

Australia's population growth rate is now well below the 2.1 per cent achieved during the height of the mining boom.

Peter Martin   An "extraordinary surge" in population has pushed Victoria to the top of the national ladder after it gained an extra 97,500 citizens in the year to March, a growth rate to 1.7 per cent.