A DEAL – hatched by two of the region’s most prominentproperty figures while bobbing on skis in the surf – was completed when a Sunshine Coast fund manager paid $7.6 million for the retail component of Syrenuse Mooloolaba last week.
RM Capital director Remi Rafter, who believes the property, situated on the corner of Brisbane Road and Mooloolaba Esplanade, is the best corner retail precinct in the area, is at Mooloolaba Surf Club with realtor Bob Stewart most mornings well before the sun is up.
Mr Stewart has managed the property for 15 years on behalf of Brisbane investor Joan Crowley, who has owned Syrenuse since it was built in 1982.
Last August, Mr Stewart told his surf club mate that Mrs Crowley was finally interested in selling the popular 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 says.
Syrenuse is a landmark eight-storey, mixed-use, beachfront building.
Its enduring design by Noel Robinson Architecture has 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.
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. The 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 says the precinct will become a quality asset, comparable with Fortitude Valley’s James Street and the Howard Smith Wharf complex.
“That’s the standard we’re looking at,” he says.
Mr Rafter says it will be the best retail corner in Mooloolaba, pointing out that most visitors now park 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 says.
“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 for the purchase, to 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 says the plan is 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.
