Ray White Transact’s Rick Bird and Brad Hanson sold the Carrington site to property developers, Sunland Group, for $25 million. Sunland plan to build a $250 million residential project, which will comprise 200 luxury apartments.

Adjacent the Carrington site is the 1,994 sqm Camelot parcel which is situated in one of Brisbane’s most beautiful and vibrant precincts. Camelot is receiving a large number of enquiries from both local and overseas developers and investors.

Brad Hanson noted “the market we are faced with today sees developers offloading their assets due to difficulty in obtaining development finance. It is truly a vote of confidence in this market that Sunland has committed to a large development project in Brisbane.”

Sunland develop luxury residential buildings and they recognised the Carrington parcel as being the best residential site in Brisbane. “The hard work and heavily committed attitudes of the agents at Ray White Transact made the negotiation process smooth and in turn a success” (representative from Sunland Group).

The 4,061sqm French Quarter site was amalgamated by Devine for a planned residential, hotel and retail development, and is configured as two individual parcels of 1,994sqm (Camelot) and 2,067sqm (Carrington).

The property group’s vision includes two cutting edge residential towers, a five star hotel and a Parisian themed retail precinct.

Ray White Transact Principal, Rick Bird, said the value added component of advanced development planning would provide an acquirer with a significant head start in delivering the project to market.

“The site demands a landmark project and Devine has adopted this attitude throughout the extensive planning process,” he said.

“It is now time for somebody else to move the project forward.”

Mr Bird said the site was being marketed internationally and he expected a competitive bidding process, with interest being shown already from South East Asia investors.

The project’s position will also be a significant selling point.

“The area has long been recognised as Brisbane’s best apartment address, being in the immediate vicinity of the Botanical Gardens, Parliament House, the Queensland Club, Quay West, the Queensland University of Technology and The Grosvenor,” Mr Bird said.

The sale is being undertaken by an offers-to-purchase campaign which closes on 12 November, 2009.

A virtual data room has been established to allow access to thorough and comprehensive due diligence information.

It is the second time Mr Bird has sold the property, 99 Mary Street, after previous owners Devine originally paid $10.1 million for the site in July 2007.

The sale comes as Devine attempt to pay off debt after once again downgrading its profit guidance. Previously earmarked for development, new owners Breeton Pty Ltd are currently seeking tenants for the 911m2 site.

A licensed real estate agent and registered valuer, Rick Bird has been a leading performer in the sale of CBD and fringe buildings and development sites and has amassed sales of over $2 billion in a 20 year real estate career.

He beat more than 1000 other agents across Australia and New Zealand to take out the top honours.

The first half of 2009 has been extremely successful for the Ray White Transact Principal, with over $33 million worth of sales have been achieved to date.

The big question was ‘will they sell?’  It’s a soft market with heaps of receivership sales to compete with.

Ray White Invest engaged Rick Bird of Ray White Transact to handle the sale of three assets in Toowoomba and Ipswich. A perfect man for the job – hard working, enthusiastic, and with a total commitment to getting top results for his clients.
 
The results? Two from three sold so far with one still being marketed. One of the best things was the terrific sale prices. One was above book value – unheard of in these times.

Ray White investors continue to benefit from the great efforts of one of our longstanding Elite Performers.

Rick Bird, of Ray White Transact, negotiated the sale in an off-market transaction. The property sits on a high-profile corner in Taringa’s established retail precinct.

The retail tenancies are occupied by Super Cheap Auto and Swimart and a new lease has just been signed with a personal training studio, Vision Personal Training, for the upper level space.

Mr Bird said the centre was completed in 2007 and that many factors made it appealing to investors. There is basement car parking and it is about 300m from Taringa Railway Station.

Mr Bird said it was on the left-hand side of the road outbound, which made it easy to access. “The left hand side outbound is very good for retail,” he said.

Taringa’s retail area had undergone a resurgence of late, as had a lot of areas that were close to potential transit oriented development.

Mr. Bird said the strong national tenants made it an appealing property to own.