Hot property: Professionals on national expansion spree

Professionals real estate is staking out some top-notch property as part of a national expansion that saw it open nine new offices in the recent months.

Professionals WA's Ron Padua and CEO Katherine Gonzalez-Cork

Professionals real estate is staking out some top-notch property as part of a national expansion that saw it open nine new offices in recent months.

The Woolloongabba-based network is bolstering its footprint across the country to meet its ambitious targets for growth, according to Professionals chief executive Katherine Gonzalez-Cork. Gonzalez-Cork says industry leader Ron Padua has been appointed business development executive for Western Australia to help with the expansion in the west. Meanwhile, rebranded offices are opening in Beenleigh and Tarragindi in Brisbane, Mt Waverley and Oakleigh South in Melbourne and Clarkson in Perth. New offices establishing with Professionals include Ardross in Perth, and three others yet to be publicly announced.

Professionals WA's Ron Padua and CEO Katherine Gonzalez-Cork

“Five of the nine new offices are rebranding to Professionals from other major brands. It is a testament to what we are offering including cost-effective membership fees, extensive training and support to grow,’’ Gonzalez-Cork says. “All nine offices are in prime locations.”

Award-winning real estate principal Daniel Pigram has rebranded his long-time Beenleigh office, opening next week, as Professionals City to Surf in the burgeoning growth area of Logan City, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Pigram, who has 20 years’ industry experience, is returning to Professionals where he first opened the

office in 2006. “I am born and bred in Beenleigh and am excited to be back I have missed the culture, values and all the support the network provides,’’ he says.

School’s in

Alternative schools have been hailed as the ‘saviour’ of the Southport CBD office market after slashing the office vacancy rate by more than one third in just four years, new research shows. REALSpecialists Commercial principal Brad Duncalfe who undertook the research into alternative schools says the sector had played a crucial role in the revival of the area in the past four years. “These schools, which are on average 97 per cent government funded, are carving out a niche as a new property class that are as good, if not better, than childcare centres which are regarded as gold-plated assets,” Duncalfe says.

The schools, which include Men of Business, The BUSY School, and Mastery Schools, cater for students, many with learning difficulties, who do not fit within the State or Catholic system. The three alternative schools leased or bought a combined 5,575 sqm from January 2020 to November 2023, shaving more than 40 per cent off the total vacant space, which declined from 21,478sqm to 8,691sqm in the same period or from 14.2 per cent to 6.4 per cent of total stock.

Brad Duncalfe

Men of Business (MoB), which provides education for Year 11 and 12 boys looking for an alternative learning environment, was the first to open in Southport after leasing 5 Nerang St, spanning 2000sqm, for $250sqm in January 2020 after being vacant for eight years when the CBA vacated the property.

This was followed by the purchase of adjoining premises at 7 Nerang St for $3.1 million in February 2021 and then 9 Nerang St for $3.8 million in 2023.

Mastery Schools Australia, which offers education for students at risk of disengaging from mainstream schooling from Year 4 to 10, followed in June 2023 when it leased premises spanning 1,276sqm at 105 Scarborough St for $400sqm net plus outgoings. The BUSY School also opened the same month, buying 139 Nerang St, which spans 727sqm, for $5

million for an all girls campus.