RFG TO JETTISON MOLENDINAR HQ
Battling Southport-based company abandons plans for a ‘world-class facility’ and puts two lots, estimated to be worth $8.5-$9 million, on the market
STRUGGLING Retail Food Group will try to offload its Molendinar headquarters – once earmarked for a “world-class facility”.
RFG has two lots, comprising 4 Industrial Ave and 385 SouthportNerang Rd, on the market, with the freehold for sale on the former and the leasehold available on the latter, which is State Government land.
The Southport-based company acquired the properties, the former site of the Gold Coast Bulletin, in 2015 to centralise its operations and enable room for further growth.
Industry sources said the total site, which is 24,000sq m, was worth between $8.5 million and $9 million.
The site was to house multiple offices, warehousing infrastructure, manufacturing pursuits, loading docks, access points and parking for more than 200 vehicles for RFG.
Former RFG managing director Tony Alford said at the time that the acquisition would provide opportunities in terms of future growth and long-term stability.
“We are looking forward to developing the properties into a world-class facility,” he said.
However, the company has struggled since December and seen its share price plunge in the wake of criticism over its treatment of financially stressed franchisees, with claims that it prioritised profits for shareholders over the livelihoods of franchisees.
Its shares fell to 43.5¢ last month and have fallen as low as 40.2¢.
RFG has now decided not to proceed with its plans for the Southport-Nerang Rd site, and CBRE’s David Corke and Luke Brechin have been appointed to market the property with an expressions-of-interest campaign closing on August 28.
Mr Corke said there was an option for the freehold of the SouthportNerang Rd site to be acquired by a prospective buyer.
He said RFG had improved the property by removing the asbestos from the former Bulletin site and cleaning up the main building.
A spokesman for RFG said the company would look for an alternative headquarters.
“The two sites were purchased to amalgamate the support business, training facilities and some of RFG’s coffee-roasting assets, as it was ideally suited for this purpose,” he said. “However, when the decision was made, in the third quarter of the past financial year, not to relocate the coffee-roasting assets, it rendered the sites no longer fit for RFG’s purpose.”