When re-use makes perfect business sense
REFURBISH it and they will come might be the new adage in Townsville property with many of the city’s older, unloved buildings finding new users after fresh fit-outs and some dressing up.
It also looks to make more financial sense for property owners at a time when builders are hard to find and construction costs have skyrocketed.
Colliers Townsville says one example of a successful makeover is the old Bayside shopping centre in Belgian Gardens.
It has gone from mostly vacant earlier this year to nearly full with just one tenancy of about 77sq m remaining to lease in a centre with 10 shopfronts.
New tenants include Wholesome Physiotherapy, Maree Health Management and House of Shakti Women’s Yoga Studio. A new cafe, called Sirens Bayside, is due to open in the new year and could have opened earlier except for delays getting new electricity meters installed.
It also has some longstanding tenants in Kite Coffee, Palms Vets Bayside and Avida
Hair Design. Colliers agents Ben Wheeler and Reagan Stokley said the centre had been bought by a Townsville investor earlier this year who had come in and done up the tenancies so they were ready to be occupied.
“We tell landlords that these days when people are looking for property to lease the tenancies need to be ready to go. That’s what this owner has done. He’s gutted the tenancies and refurbished them to a white shell fit-out stage and he has replaced the shopfronts. He’s also tidied up the fascia and given the property a paint,” Mr Wheeler said.
“There were five vacancies and we have leased four out of five.” Mr Wheeler said offering the tenancies at an affordable rate was also a factor, as well as their location in Belgian Gardens, one of Townsville’s more affluent suburbs, and the centre’s good access and parking.
“The centre has 38 on-site car parks. That’s a massive plus,” Mr Wheeler said.
The property on Primrose St sold for $1.36m through Colliers Townsville earlier this year. It is a masonry block neighbourhood centre with a building area of 662sq m on a
When people are looking for property to lease the tenancies need to be ready to go. That’s what this owner has done BEN WHEELER
large 2949sq m site that has potential potent a for expansion.