Sunland hits jackpot with The Lakes land
THE term money-back guaranteed is proving a major understatement for the Sunland Group at its giant The Lakes project at Mermaid Waters.
The listed company appears already to have recouped the $61 million it paid for The Lakes land, on which it’s barely scratched the surface in development terms.
Twelve hundred residential titles and a shopping centre are yet to be developed at The Lakes, described by Sunland as a flagship project in the vein that its Palazzo Versace and the Q super-tower were in their day.
The high-profile 42ha The Lakes site was bought in 2014 after much ogling over the years by Sunland and it always has looked a canny buy.
Indeed, many other developers probably still are kicking themselves for missing the chance.
The land’s size and position – it’s in the heart of the city and fronts two major thoroughfares – has stirred the interest of major groups, some from offshore, for many years.
Sunland, in what may well have been a case of being on the ball and financially strong enough to be able to settle quickly, beat them all to the prize.
That prize was the major part of a 50ha parcel bought by Sydney’s Albert Scheinberg for $900,000 in 1972 from Merrimac farming family the Firths.
The Scheinbergs’ Leslie Corporation (Interstate) tried for years to offload the site, at one stage with a 130-year lease in place, and reportedly
rejected a $110 million offer. Albert died in 2008 and the Best and Less founder’s family sold what was then called the Lakeview site as part of an asset sell-off designed to let family members go in their own directions.
The Lakeview winner was Sunland, which wasted no time recouping its $61 million.
It quickly sold off 41 housing lots for $33 million in 2015 and then went on to build and sell 70 townhouses worth $63 million.
The success run has continued with last month’s $20 million sale of the Lakeview Retail Centre fronting Bermuda St.
The flow of money into the Sunland coffers has now paused, possibly until 2022 and the completion of the first of The Lakes’ eight stages of apartments, tagged The Lanes Residences.
Stage one is intended to consist of four towers of up to 12 levels and providing 310 apartments.
It remains to be seen whether Sunland, which never has been a holder of retail assets, will retain the project’s The Lanes retail and commercial precinct.
The groundwork on the precinct already is under way on land abutting the just-sold Lakeview centre, which was up and running when Sunland did its Scheinberg deal.
Meanwhile, apartment dwellers eyeing the chance to make The Lakes their new home have a while to wait.
Earthworks and civil works are under way around the edge of the project’s expansive lake in preparation for a start on the basements, but the initial apartment towers might not be completed for three years.