Queen St commercial opportunities

Two large scale commercial opportunities in a tightly held market on Queen St, Warragul, are up for sale via expression of interest.

The former home of The Railway Hotel at 81 Queen St and an industrial/warehouse site at 147 Queen St, currently occupied by YGP Farm and Feed Barn, have both recently come on to the market.

An iconic historical Warragul building, the double storey Railway Hotel, built in 1888-89 has recently undergone major refurbishment works.

It has seven ground floor retail spaces and 18 first floor office spaces, all fully leased.
"The owners have had it for decades. They operated the pub that was there and they decided to take on a new venture and give the building a new lease of life. So, they did the full conversion to the offices that you see on the first floor and split up all the tenancies downstairs," CBRE associate director David Napoleone said.
"It is primarily positioned towards investors, and investors that just want to be passive and sit on the income. What this provides is a pretty unique position for an investor, because we call it a de-risk position because you can have one or two of those leases disappear and it really wouldn't affect your bottom-line income and your yield."
Mr Napoleone said skyrocketing land tax in metro Melbourne was seeing investors expand into regional areas, particularly when quality assets hit the market.
"You head out to an area like Warragul and the land tax bill is negligible in comparison to something like for like in metro. Warragul really is the epicentre of the Gippsland region, economically. It has huge economic output, growing population, you really are quite close to the city when you think about it too, either by train or by car."
The State Government also is offering incentives to invest regionally, introducing a 50 per cent stamp duty concession for regional commercial and industrial property purchases.
With three street frontages on a busy main road corner, 147 Queen St, held since the late 1960s, is another large property providing a unique opportunity for developers and investors.
Ben Wilson, principal of Wilson Property said it was arguably the best commercial development site and commercial investment that has hit the market in the last few years.
"One of the most appealing factors to developers for Queen St, is the strong passing income, which is not often seen for development sites. It is strategically located between the CBD and the Saleyards, Bunnings and Harvey Norman bulky goods developments," Mr Wilson said.
"It provides strong passing income whilst the buyer prepares for the future development of the site or holds the property as an investment."