Million-dollar bids placed at auction for historic Toowoomba building Pigott’s | Commercial real estate

Two competitive offers were put forward by bidders at an auction for a heritage-listed property in Toowoomba’s CBD, just two years after the building was purchased by a company which paid millions before going into administration. Here’s what happened at the auction.

Interested buyers of a heritage-listed property in the heart of Toowoomba’s CBD may have another chance at acquiring the iconic Ruthven St building.

The Pigott’s building was put to auction through Ray White Commercial on Wednesday, at The Oaks Conference Centre but was unsuccessful in finding a buyer.

Rowes general manager Paul McMahon was one of the two bidders on the day who put forward a $3.8m offer on behalf of the Rowe Group.

The heritage-listed Pigott's building on Ruthven Street in Toowoomba City will go under the hammer through Ray White Commercial.

The company also owns premises at 373 Ruthven St and 58 Russell St.

“(Pigott’s) is right next door and neighbouring properties don’t come up all that often,” Mr McMahon said.

“It’s a beautiful property and it would certainly fit in well with the Rowe family’s plans of continuing a strong presence in Toowoomba.”

The leading bidder, whose identity could not be confirmed due to privacy reasons, put forward an offer of $4.2m over the phone, before the owner set the benchmark to $4.4m.

Mr McMahon said the company had “no real plans” for the vacant building site currently, but the car park and a ground floor ready to lease would be beneficial.

While he did not confirm how high the company was prepared to bid, he said “we think our offer was a very full offer given the rising interest rates and the difficulty of getting long term tenants”.

Ray White Commercial principal Paul Schmidt-Lee after the auction at Oaks of Pigotts Building in Toowoomba CBD. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Auctioneer Phil Parker said the Pigott’s building which was built in the early 1900s was a “wonderful example of the early 20th century architecture”.

Ray White Commercial Toowoomba principal Paul Schmidt-Lee said agents would now approach the two individual bidders to discuss the investment possibilities further.

“Most of the comments from people who have inquired (about the property) is to put commercial, retail and residential living within the CBD,” Mr Schmidt-Lee said.

“The building is old so it will take a little bit of work, but inner city living is becoming a big, prominent part of what Toowoomba will become in the future.”

Mr Schmidt-Lee said an added attraction of the 6,246sq m was the carpark facilities which turned onto Victoria St.

Auctioneer Phil Parker conducts the Ray White Commercial auction at Oaks of Pigotts Building in Toowoomba CBD. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The 113 year old property was previously purchased by Melbourne firm Oxford Capital Pty Ltd for $6.6m in 2021.

It was bought from previous owner and Super A-Mart founder John Van Lieshout.

With a vision to transform the former department store into a luxury hotel with multiple storeys, this plan did not eventuate after Oxford Capital collapsed, going into administration in March.

The 381 Ruthven St property went under the hammer on the instructions of insolvency specialists Michael McCann and Matt Byrnes of firm GrantThornton, who were named as receivers.

In May, Mr McCann told The Chronicle the property needed to be moved on to recover debts owed to a creditor of Oxford Capital.

“Our brief is to sell and realise the property for the client, the secured creditor, which is owed a significant amount of money,” he said.

“We’ve called for submissions from agents and we envisage we’ll be putting the property on the market soon.”