For sale: 50-52 Ryrie St, Geelong
A building initially designed to showcase new cars to motorists offers a rare opportunity to secure a 1000sq m showroom in Geelong’s CBD.
The imminent departure of Cash Converters from its long-term lease opens the door to secure the freehold building at 50-52 Ryrie St, Geelong with vacant possession.
CBRE agents Scott Hawthorne, Nathan Mufale and Alex Brierley are representing the owners of the building, with a 20m frontage to Ryrie St and rear lane access via Cuzens Place.
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Mr Hawthorne said the showroom will be a target for owner-occupiers and value-add investors.
It’s listed for sale by expressions of interest closing July 29 and is expected to attract interest about $2m.
The site was the Esler & Belton car dealership during the 20th century, which sold Chrysler and Valiant models.
Mr Hawthorne said large glass frontage and open floor layout, which later suited current occupant Cash Converters, were originally designed to showcase the latest Australian vehicles right on the Ryrie St strip.
For sale: 50-52 Ryrie St, Geelong is next to the Geelong Quarter development, including a 180-room Holiday Inn hotel.
A footprint of this scale, combined with flexible Activity Centre zoning, provides a blank canvas for a flagship showroom, medical hub, premium hospitality venture or corporate headquarters.
The property neighbours the recently completed Geelong Quarter development, bringing the 180-room Holiday Inn & Suites Geelong and a 114-apartment residential tower to the doorstep of the incoming purchaser, injecting immediate foot traffic and corporate visitors into the immediate precinct.
Mr Hawthorne said a massive corporate ecosystem is anchoring the area, including the major office headquarters of WorkSafe, TAC, NDIS, GMHBA and Deakin University.
The showroom occupies much of the 1026sq m floorspace.
Rents in the area have been at a premium of late for Ryrie St in Geelong’s CBD, the Bupa Dental clinic last year generated a rent just over $600/sq m, and the ground floor retail in the Geelong Quarter development next door were leased for $515/sq m and $677/sq m respectively.
“Finding a showroom over 1000sqm in the core of a major regional CBD is incredibly rare,” Mr Hawthorne said.
“Opportunities of this scale and versatility simply don’t come to market in inner Geelong,” he added.
“Most CBD retail spaces are tightly held, so to secure a prominent footprint with over 20 metres of street frontage and rear lane access is a massive competitive advantage.
The building has front and rear access.
“It’s a blank canvas giving owner-occupiers freedom to launch a flagship headquarters, or value-add investors the chance to aggressively reposition the asset and capitalise on the area’s record-setting regional growth.”
A Cash Converters spokesman confirmed the business would be relocating to a new location in the CBD.
The listing comes after an interstate investor paid $2.78m for a 396sq m strata titled asset leased to Sweatshop in the Ryrie Home building next door at 46 Ryrie St.
Fitzroys’ Chris Kombi and Lewis Waddell, in conjunction with Andrew Prowse and Tim Darcy of Darcy Jarman, sold the ground floor premises with a 10-year lease, plus options to the wellness and fitness tenant.
The Geelong CBD strata health and wellness asset at 46 Ryrie St, Geelong, sold for $2.78m.
“The purchaser was attracted to the stamp duty concessions, along with the higher yield that typically comes with regional Vitoria assets compared to metropolitan locations,” Mr Waddell said.
“There are a lot of investors looking at regional locations and high growth prospects for higher-yielding opportunities with lower land tax obligations and lower risk,” he added.
Mr Kombi said buyers were also attracted to the huge growth prospects of the CBD location and the tenancy profile of a successful multi-location fitness operator that is likely to trade well as the residential population grows.