A deal to purchase one of Mooloolaba’s best known retail precincts, hatched by two of the region’s most prominent property figures while bobbing on skis in the early morning surf, will be complete when a Sunshine Coast fund manager pays $7.6 million for the retail component of Syrenuse Mooloolaba this week.
Director Remi Rafter, who believes the property, situated on the corner of Brisbane Road and Mooloolaba Esplanade, is the best corner retail precinct in Mooloolaba, is at Mooloolaba Surf Club with realtor Bob Stewart most mornings well before the sun is even up.
Mr Stewart has managed the property for 15 years on behalf of Brisbane investor Joan Crowley, who has owned Syrenuse since it was first built in 1982.
Last August Mr Stewart told his surf club mate that Mrs Crowley was finally interested in selling the iconic corner block, initiating an off-market negotiation that concluded with a contract being signed at the end of November.
“It was an opportune time for her to sell” Mr Stewart said.
Syrenuse is a landmark eight-storey mixed-use beachfront building, its enduring design by Noel Robinson Architecture having been recognised through multiple industry awards. It is the 664sqm of commercial lettable space – comprising a diverse mix of seven tenancies – which RM Capital has acquired, the investment arm of Rafter Myers.
Tenants include Leading Realty Sunshine Coast, Cici’s Continental Deli, Hair At Mooloolaba, Enrich Thai Massage, Zambezee fashion boutique, Pink Pantha convenience store and long-established Mexican restaurant Montezuma’s, which is in the process of relocating.
Montezuma’s departure provides RM Capital with an opportunity to modernise and enhance the property with the goal of it becoming a retail showplace. Architectural plans are already being drawn up.
Mr Rafter said the precinct would become a quality asset, comparable with Fortitude Valley’s James St and the Howard Smith Wharf complex. “That’s the standard we’re looking at,” he said.
He said it would be the best retail corner in Mooloolaba, pointing out that most visitors now parked in the multi-storey car park in Brisbane Road, before accessing the beach or the Esplanade shops.
“Everyone who visits Mooloolaba will walk right past our property and our shops. This is where you want to be,” he said. “It’s why people call this intersection ‘Central Station’.”
RM Capital, a Sunshine Coast-based fund manager with a track record of completing value-driven property investments, established a fund and sought $5 million of investment to fund the purchase, pay fees and costs, and put aside $2 million for renovations. The balance of funding was provided by National Australia Bank.
The fund was fully subscribed within hours, exclusively by local investors.
Mr Rafter said the plan was to actively manage and improve the property’s performance and appearance, attract high quality national tenancies, then sell the asset, perhaps in five years’ time noting the flexibility offered through the eight separate property titles.
He said investors were expected to benefit from a forecast 89 percent return, made up of six percent quarterly cash distributions, as well as a share of the returns when the property is sold providing the fund members with wide flexibility during the selling period.
