Esther Lauaki
0311factory
By Esther Lauaki
Heavyweight property investors Heine Brothers have splashed out about $22 million on the former Berkeley Apparel factory in Sunshine.
Records show the investment house has slapped a caveat on 501-503 Ballarat Road, a 1950s era office-warehouse complex currently used as a self-storage facility.
Buildings cover 12,513 square metres of the 22,000 sq m site which is in the Sunshine Activity Zone.
Within the Sunshine Activity Zone, the land allows for a variety of development outcomes including high density residential.
Dawkins Occhiuto agents Andrew Dawkins, Walter Occhiuto and Chris Jones handled the transaction, struck at about $1000 a square metre.
The purchase is understood to be a strategic land banking move from Heine and is forecast to provide a total annual rent of $1.445 million.
The gateway site was first listed in late February just as COVID-19 spread around the globe.
Last November former premier Steve Bracks said the suburb should be the capital of Melbourne’s west, and considered as important to the city, as Parramatta is to Sydney.
The government has also earmarked Sunshine for strong population growth – 69 per cent by 2041 – partly as a result of the Airport Rail Link, which will pass the suburb on its route, and create employment opportunities.
The $50 billion proposed suburban rail loop will also stop at Sunshine.
– with The Age
