Ritz and glamour of new building
INVESTORS are circling the only commercial component within the 4.5-star Ritz Apartment Hotel on Geelong’s waterfront.
They’ve pounced on the chance to secure the ground floor cafe space within the facade of the old Ritz building on Bellerine St.
Construction has started on the nine-storey, 127-room hotel complex. Darcy Jarman, Geelong West agent Tim Darcy said Collective Hotel Management, which secured the rights to operate the hotel, also held the 10-year lease to the cafe, with options to take it to 40 years. The company operates a portfolio of east coast establishments, including the five-star Tingirana Noosa resort.
The cafe will service hotel residents, with customers also spilling over from The Vue apartments on Bellerine St and beyond to the waterfront.
“It’s a great opportunity to buy an income-recurring asset that gives them security of tenure in a brand new building in the heartland of that waterfront precinct,” Mr Darcy said.
Annual increases are built into the lease, while investors could also access depreciation allowances on the new building, expected to be completed in late 2020.
“Finding brand new buildings with a level of tenure equivalent of 10 years is almost unheard of,” Mr Darcy said.
“It’s a very passive set-andforget investment. From a Geelong perspective it’s about as good as it gets.”
Price hopes are above $1 million for the 72sq m space, plus a car park. Mr Darcy expects more local and external interest to emerge for the investment that provides a $59,000 annual rental income.
“The Ritz is a story in itself for a long period of time but it’s become an iconic building. With all the work that’s going to be done to it, it’s going to look fairly spectacular,” he said.