$100m Ballina project on market

A $100 million project that was set to be the biggest bulky goods showroom on the North Coast is on the market.

A $100 MILLION project that was set to be the biggestbulky goods showroom on the North Coast is on themarket.

Homeworld Ballina is for sale by expressions of interest, closing on July 22.

Selling agent Stephen Kidd, of Colliers International in Brisbane, said it was a rare opportunity for a keen buyer.

“It's only been on the market for two weeks and we've already had a lot of interest,” he said.

“We've had one inquiry from the United Arab Emirates, and others from Sydney and Brisbane.”

Mr Kidd said the owners of the site, Macpro Properties, had decided to put it on the market because the project was ‘too big'.

“It's just too much for them in the current financial climate,” he said.

But he said with ‘substantial tenant interest' and land for future expansion, there were plenty of positive points.

Homeworld, which would be built at Smith Street at West Ballina, has a gross floor area of 29,000sqm and would have 35 tenancies and more than 600 car parks once completed.

The total land area is 72,000sqm.

In another project Macpro Properties took Ballina Shire Council to court over its rezoning of land in the Southern Cross Industrial Estate.

It said the council failed to disclose that the land could be used for bulky goods purposes.

That land was then sold to retail giant Harvey Norman.

Macpro said it had been in negotiations for Harvey Norman to take up a tenancy in its Homeworld development.

This claim was rejected by Harvey Norman, with development manager David Scurr saying they ‘fully investigated and discounted' the Homeworld site.

Macpro lost the court case in the NSW Land and Environment Court but lodged an appeal, which was dismissed.

The company had planned to take the matter to the High Court, but withdrew the application last month.

Originally published as $100m Ballina project on market