BUYERS SNAP UP KEY PLOTS
ONE of the city’s premium industrial land projects has sold out as low interest rates have combined with Townsville’s economic boom to lift demand for warehouse and storage space.
Colliers Townsville says a sale of the final lot in Domain West Industrial Estate settled recently with much of the 13lot estate selling in the past year.
The estate was developed by Wagners about 15 years ago.
Colliers Executive Commercial and Industrial Todd Walsh said apart from one sale early on — for a shelved Masters hardware store development — the estate had been sitting dormant and largely forgotten about by the market.
“It was a bit of a sleeping giant. A new industrial subdivision in the middle of Garbutt that adjoins Domain Central and the Bunnings centre was always going to be popular,” Mr Walsh said.
“The market just needed to improve and that’s well and truly happened now.”
The estate was developed on Greg Jabs Dr, which was extended to connect with Dalrymple Rd from Bayswater Rd.
Mr Walsh said the final 12 lots, totalling about 70,000sq m, had sold over the past year or so for a combined price of over $12.5m.
The lots were sold to a mix of developers, land bankers and owner occupiers.
“Construction is under way on two of the blocks with other major construction projects soon to commence,” Mr Walsh said.
One development where a first stage has been developed is Domain Business Park by local developer Geoff Hartley.
The Hartleys acquired a 3530sq m site in 2020 for about $187 per square metre. More recent deals have fetched up to $200 per square metre. Mr Walsh said demand for industrial land had been “almost nil” over the past decade with only a handful of land sales taking place each year.
“But demand for industrial property and a lack of available existing buildings has meant that constructing new is now a real option for industrial buyers. That wasn’t the case just a few years ago,” Mr Walsh said.
New industrial land projects are being developed to the north and south of the city.
Agents are reporting much of stage one in the Cleveland Bay Industrial Park, now under construction at the intersection of the Bruce Highway and Southern Port Access Road, have sold.