CBD retail space sells for over $2m

SOLD: The prominent retail building at 92-94 East Street has been purchased by a New South Wales investor.SOLD: The prominent retail building at 92-94 East Street has been purchased by a New South Wales investor.

DARRYN NUFER
Darryn.Nufer@capnews.com.au

A PROMINENT retail building in Rockhampton’s CBD has sold to a New South Wales investor for more than $2 million.

Currently occupied by discount outlet Shop $mart, the building at 92-94 East Street was let go by its Rockhampton owners, the Woods family, for $2.075 million. The East Street commercial property was sold by Transact Property Group and that company’s associate director Daniel Cullinane said there had been strong interest in the building, particularly on the back of recent Adani Mining announcements.

“The owners were looking to divest this asset from which we took it to a four-week expression of interest campaign,” Mr Cullinane said. “We had over 50 enquiries come in from all around Australia and overseas. “

There is a lot of positivity off the back of the Adani project and how that’s going to benefit not just Rockhampton, but the regional Queensland market as a whole. “Rockhampton was received really well as an investment destination.” Mr Cullinane said after closing the campaign, multiple offers were received.

“We ended up proceeding with a cash unconditional offer from a buyer based at the northern beaches in Sydney.” Mr Cullinane said he was not at liberty to disclose the purchaser’s identity, only that it was a private investor.

“They flew up (to Rockhampton) and I took them through the asset and showed them all around the town.

‘‘ROCKHAMPTON WAS RECEIVED REALLY WELL AS AN INVESTMENT DESTINATION

“They were really upbeat and really positive about what’s happening there, especially with the riverbank regeneration, the art gallery – obviously the government has announced a pretty significant infrastructure and development spend in the region that is going to be forthcoming.

“The purchasers were really positive off the back of that because basically they saw the potential for capital values to rise, rents to increase and vacancies to reduce, and just the opportunity for the overall economy to move forward quite significantly.

“They weren’t the only ones – we had a hell of a lot of people saying the same thing.”

The net lettable area of the building is 1,212 square metres on the ground floor and 900 square metres on the first level.

Shop $mart, which leases the ground level, was established in 2014 and has successfully grown to encompass two stores, providing Rockhampton and Emerald with high quality products at market leading prices.

The Rocky operation has just, this financial year, entered into a new five-year lease with options until 2034.

In March, iconic CBD property, The Giddy Goat building also in East Street, was snapped up by a Sydney investor for $3.175 million.