Change is coming for huge long-vacant North Geelong retail site
The biggest retail black hole in Geelong's northern suburbs is about to be filled as a landmark building is traded in an off-market deal.
The former Rays Outdoors building at 340-344 Melbourne Rd, North Geelong, has sold for $8.5m in an off-market transaction managed by Colliers agent Chris Nanni.
Property records show IP Generation, which recently sold Corio Village shopping centre to Charter Hall for $146m, had acquired the Melbourne Rd site.
The high-profile property has sat idle and vandalised for more than a decade since Super Retail Group vacated the site, which had last sold in 2023 for $5.8m.
Mr Nanni said the key to unlocking the site was identifying national tenants prepared to lease space in the building, one of the last remaining substantial large format retail sites on Melbourne Rd.
He said the corner location was unique that it offered 'left-in and right-in access' at the Collopy St intersection, making it perfect for large format retail.
Loading bays and off-street carparking were also favourable.
The property has been restructured to offer the new owner strong returns, Mr Nanni said.
'The sale price reflects a rate on lettable area of below $1800 per square metre, well below the replacement cost, and this sets the new owners up to drive very compelling returns over the short to medium term,' Mr Nanni said.
The work to attract interest and lease offers from national retail, leisure and entertainment tenants, had effectively 'de-risked' the site for the new owner.
'There has been enormous demand from national retailers for highway frontage sites like this for a while,' Mr Nanni said.
'We received interest and offers from various national tenants and presented the site to a local developer/investor.
'After negotiations, the parties agreed, and we have secured lease offers ahead of settlement.'
The purchaser engaged Colliers to lease the space, successfully securing several compelling offers from high-profile national tenants to take 100 per cent occupancy of the site later this year.
The property is set to be subdivided once the leases were locked in.
It's one of the last retail sites available on Melbourne Rd, with Pelligra midway through construction of several buildings on its opposing Fortek site.
The final piece is the still-vacant former Godfreys site at the corner of The Boulevard, which sold for $4.21m in 2018.
'High-profile assets like this are in high demand, especially from national retailers seeking large sites in Geelong,' Mr Nanni said.
'The lack of supply to meet this demand remains strong.'
'The tenants were drawn to the property's strategic location with its high exposure and accessibility.
Mr Nanni said the demand from national large format retailers to secure sites in Geelong continues to grow as the city continues its growth trajectory.
'The fact that we were able to identify tenants and present offers before settlement underpinned the sale,' he said.
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