Geelong CBD site with Maxwell Collins HQ listed for $7m-plus
Agents Paul Whyte and Nick Lord are running expressions of interest closing 3 December on the four-building site at 55-67 Myers St and 19 O'Farrell Place South, flagged for its flexible Activity Centre zoning.
A four-building landholding at 55-67 Myers St and 19 O’Farrell Place South in the Geelong CBD went to market this week, with agents running an expressions of interest campaign closing 3 December and a price guide of $7 million to $7.5 million, the Geelong Advertiser reported on 22 October.
Why it matters
The site totals 1,587 sqm of land with 1,862 sqm of floorspace across the four adjoining buildings, with 85m of street frontage. It is anchored by the Maxwell Collins real estate agency, which occupies the site as its head office and major tenant and will continue operating there under the sale. According to the Geelong Advertiser, the land was acquired around 2000 by Maxwell Collins founders Peter Maxwell and David Collins, who developed the agency’s headquarters on the site.
The property carries flexible Activity Centre zoning, which the Geelong Advertiser reports allows for future multi-level commercial, mixed-use or residential development. The report describes only the zoning entitlement, not an approved scheme. Agent Paul Whyte, of Maxwell Collins, pointed to the nearby 12-storey Quest Geelong Apartments on Gheringhap St as a comparable scale for what the development envelope could support, and suggested a future owner could reposition parts of the tenancy mix toward medical-aligned uses, given the site’s proximity to St John of God Geelong Hospital.
For a buyer, the deal bundles a tenanted income asset with an unbuilt development right. That combination lets a purchaser hold the existing income while assessing a future scheme, rather than having to commit to construction on day one.
The numbers
The fully tenanted site returns more than $358,000 a year in rent, plus GST and outgoings. Against the $7 million to $7.5 million price guide, that implies a yield in the order of 4.8% to 5.1% on the disclosed rent, before any allowance for a future redevelopment uplift. The 1,587 sqm landholding and 85m of frontage span a sloping block, with the rear sitting split-level and a laneway providing access to an internal car park within the Maxwell Collins building.
“The security of tenure is appealing to a lot of buyers,” Mr Whyte said, in comments reported by the Geelong Advertiser. He also noted the arrangement lets a buyer hold the income stream while it decides on a longer-term use for the site.
No historical sale price for the land is disclosed in the listing or the report. The campaign follows a separate Geelong CBD matter this month, where the City of Greater Geelong moved to recover $4.1m it spent on the unsold Belchers Corner site by placing a charge on its title.
What’s next
Expressions of interest close 3 December, with Paul Whyte and director Nick Lord of Maxwell Collins running the campaign. Any multi-level scheme would need to clear the Activity Centre zoning controls and the relevant planning permit process through the City of Greater Geelong before construction could begin.
For agents working the regional Victorian commercial market, the campaign is a marker for how a CBD-fringe site with in-place income and an unbuilt development right is being priced in Geelong ahead of the December close. Builders and developers watching the Geelong CBD pipeline should track whether the EOI produces a buyer intent on activating the zoning, or one content to hold the asset for its existing tenanted return.