Owners join forces to sell two Cronulla apartment blocks for $38.2 million
An amalgamated apartment site in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla has sold for $38.2 million after 30 individual owners joined forces to sell.
The two three-storey unit blocks at 37 Gerrale Street, Cronulla were sold to Pitt Street Real Estate Partners – a property fund subsidiary of Washington H. Soul Pattinson – following an expressions of interest campaign. It’s not yet known what the new owner plans to use the site for.
The 30 two-bedroom apartments currently generate more than $700,000 gross a year in rent.
The unit blocks were converted from company title to strata prior to the decision to sell the site, which is zoned B3 Commercial Core and a 30-metre height limit.
Listing agent Dylan McEvoy, of JLL, said interest had come from offshore groups, institutional developers, retirement operators as well as builders and developers with a significant pick-up in inquiries from local, luxury developers in recent months.
“There’s definitely more of a positive sentiment in the market at present. We’ve noticed also a lot of local, luxury developers have come back into the market whereas your Asian-backed developers aren’t as active,” he said.
“37 Gerrale Street is billed as one of the best development opportunities in the Sutherland Shire’s coastal lifestyle capital. We are witnessing a renewed willingness from developers who are expressing a preference for well-located sites in strong demographic areas such as Cronulla.”
The sale follows a similar transaction in 2017 near the peak of the residential property boom, when Mr McEvoy sold an amalgamated four blocks of flats on behalf of 32 owners located at 49-55 Gerrale Street, Cronulla, for $54 million.
The final sale price was higher than several off-market offers that were made on the 1746-square-metre site prior to the decision to take the property to market as an amalgamated listing.
“Rising land prices, coupled with strong demand for mixed-use sites” meant that some owners at 37 Gerrale Street almost doubled their money by amalgamating, Mr McEvoy said.
Rising confidence in residential property market conditions meant that more amalgamated sales would likely be brought to market heading into the new year, according to Mr McEvoy, although these would be restricted to “core locations” with strong market fundamentals.
“Cronulla is a well-established residential market which has experienced restricted supply of new projects being built, this combined with a large and affluent population like the Shire has ensured premium real estate offers are in high demand,” he said.
