Cashed-up crowd of bidders lured from Burleigh’s green room to the auction room

ON any other day crowds are lured to the green room of Burleigh’s famous surf barrels but the chance of riding a new property wave has packed an auction room overlooking the Gold Coast point break.

LANDMARK DEAL: James Crawford and Darrell Irwin of Colliers International outside McDonald House at Burleigh Heads, which has sold post-auction for $8.3 million.

ON any other day the crowds are lured to the green room of Burleigh Head’s famous surf barrels.

But last weekend it was an auction room overlooking the Gold Coast point break that was packed, drawing a crowd of cashed-up investor looking to ride the city’s latest property wave.

Among three assets on offer was local landmark, McDonald House — a fully-leased commercial holding on the biggest freehold corner block in Burleigh’s booming James St retail precinct.

It was the first time the prime tenanted asset had been put to the market since it was developed about 40 years ago by the McDonald family, who also ran a law firm from the property.

The family purchased the 810sq m site on the corner of Park Ave and Connor St in 1976 for $108,000.

Comprising two adjoining three-level and five-level buildings with a net lettable area of 1817sq m, it is occupied by 20 tenants.

It went under the hammer with a cheeky opening bid of $2 million immediately countered by a $6 million offer.

Eventually, the property was passed in on a vendor’s bid of $8.25 million.

But within a couple of hours it had been snapped up for $8.3 million by a Gold Coast-based private investor on a yield of about 7.5 per cent.

Marketing agents Darrell Irwin and James Crawford of Colliers International fielded strong inquiry in the lead-up to the auction.

“We had a lot of interest from people who holiday here from Sydney and Melbourne,” Mr Irwin said. “Several of them flew up to inspect the property and were among the 10 registered bidders.”

Mr Crawford said the asset appealed because it is the largest freehold corner site in the James St precinct and there is not a lot of other office assets in Burleigh.

“But also it’s positioned close to both the proposed stations for the third stage of the light rail and if densities are increased it offers excellent redevelopment potential.”

Negotiations are continuing on the other two Burleigh properties that went under the hammer — the Justin Lane building at 1706 Gold Coast Highway and an industrial unit at 1/41 Township Drive, which were passed in at $2.75 million and $888,000, respectively.