Garbutt’s 217 Central retail precinct sells for $9.2m to southern investors

After four new Townsville drive-through buildings were offered for purchase separately, a southern investor swooped in and bought the lot. See why they spent the big bucks.

Burgess Rawson partner Neville Smith was delighted to see 217 Central sell for $9.2m prior to auction. Picture: Supplied.

A hefty $9.2m purchase of a Garbutt retail precinct has once again highlighted Townsville’s attractiveness as a place for southern investors to spend their money.

After sitting as vacant land for an extended period of time, the prime corner location where two of Townsville’s busiest arterial roads meet, 217-219 Ingham Rd, was developed by the Gibb Group into “217 Central”.

Situated 4km from the CBD, 217 Central features four drive-through convenience retail tenancies, in separate buildings, on a 4388 sqm land parcel.

They include national tenants Zambrero on a 10 year lease, Banjo’s Bakery Café on a 12 year lease, Hoppy’s Car Wash, one of Queensland leading chain operators of automated car wash

services, on a 15 year lease, and Miss Sushi on a 5.5 year lease.

Burgess Rawson partner Neville Smith said they initially launched a sales campaign early last year, while construction was still ongoing, which hit a hurdle when builder Lanskey Constructions went into liquidation.

Plan for 217 Central. Picture: Burgess Rawson.

The Gibb Group were forced to scramble to find an alternative builder, settling on Noseda Constructions, who did an “amazing job” to finish the back end of the project.

“The Gibb Group decided to auction the centre as individual buildings. We took them to auction and got some great feedback from the investment market nationally,” Mr Smith said.

“We had 110 inquiries for the centre during the process.

“Through the campaign, and prior to auction, we ended up securing two individual buyers, and then that resulted in a buyer coming forward wanting to buy the entire centre.”

Zambrero. Picture: Leighton Smith.

Banjo’s Bakery Café. Picture: Leighton Smith.

While the southern investment group who made the $9.2m purchase didn’t wish to be identified, Mr Smith said they had a background in quick service restaurants.

“That represented a yield just on 6 per cent net,” he said.

“They’ve seen value in what was delivered in that location, a high profile corner site in a substantial catchment.”

Riding high from the recent sale of the BWS building in Belgian Gardens, Mr Smith said 217 Central’s sale reaffirmed the appetite for southern-based investment companies expanding into regions.

Miss Sushi. Picture: Leighton Smith.

Hoppy's Car Wash will open shortly. Picture: Leighton Smith.

“With the underlying fundamentals that Townsville has, a strong economy, very diverse economy, it has a very bright future,” he said.

Banjo’s was a new entry into Townsville after being founded in Tasmania.

“There’ll be more Banjo’s turning up across Townsville in the not too distant future. If you haven’t tried the product yet, it’s nothing short of amazing,” he said.

Due to open in the coming days, he said Hoppy’s Car Wash was also notable in offering Townsville its first tunnel car wash.

Originally published as Garbutt’s 217 Central retail precinct sells for $9.2m to southern investors