Payneham Mausoleum with 2200 crypts up for sale in Adelaide
For $16m you could own Adelaide's ultimate property investment – a marble mausoleum where residents truly stay forever, with room for 2200 crypts.
One of Australia’s largest privately owned mausoleums has hit the market with a multimillion-dollar price tag, with its current owner hoping it will attract huge interest from those dead serious about investing in the ultimate ‘forever’ home.
The Payneham Mausoleum, in Adelaide’s inner east, was developed by funeral industry identity Anthony Farrugia in 2012, and designed to have capacity for more than 2200 crypts.
The interior is fitted out extensively with marble, and close to 600 of the 678 fully completed crypts are currently occupied. Two additional wings enable an incoming purchaser to fit out close to 1600 additional crypt spaces in the 2600sq m building.
Offers of around $16m are expected for the business and freehold property, which includes a 100-seat chapel, and has been owned by a private investor for the past eight years.
Selling agent Brian Sander from Benchmark Business Sales & Valuations said mausoleums were often favoured over cemetery burials by members of the Italian community, but the Payneham Mausoleum was one of the few that operated as a business investment.
“In my 35 years in the industry I’ve never had one like this,” he said.
“It is the only privately-owned mausoleum in South Australia, we’ve been advised, and the entire building is one of the largest mausoleums in Australia.
“As far as I understand, they’re more likely to be built and owned within a cemetery, owned by a trust, and those are usually not-for-profit-type organisations.
“We have had some interest, but because of its unique nature, it’s got to attract just the right sort of person, maybe an organisation who sees a reason for wanting a long-term investment. Because that’s what it is they’re buying – it is going to be a long-term investment.
“And whoever buys this is going to probably need to spend another $3m to build the next wing, and then there’s the third wing as well.”
According to Mr Sander, each crypt is sold on a 99-year lease term at an upfront cost ranging from $25,000 for a top level location to $40,000 for a ground floor placement.
But the current owner is looking to restructure the offering to include a shorter lease period of 30 years, with ongoing periodic payments over the life of the lease.
The Farrugia family, which has developed mausoleums across Australia, developed the Payneham mausoleum, opposite the Payneham Cemetery, to relieve a shortage of burial spaces in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs.
With burial plots among the most expensive real estate in Australia, large mausoleums are helping to relieve the shortage of land, given they take up less ground space compared with a cemetery burial.
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