eKourier July 2013

PROPERTY

Former Government Drug Testing Laboratory to Get New Life as a Kennards Centre

I n 2012, a property in Pymble was brought to us with an asking pricing of $11 million. It did not take long to dismiss it, without even seeing it. Despite Pymble being a long held desired target area for our business, the numbers never would have worked. $11 million was complete “sticker fright”! We have long held disciplines regarding our investment metrics. These have not wavered through highs and lows of the property cycle, and can sometimes cause frustration in missing great properties. A year later, the same property in Pymble came back on the market. The owners had defaulted on the loans, and the Banks sought to recover losses this year. With $11 million still ringing in my head, I was reluctant to even speak to the Real Estate Agent, let alone go through the property.

“ The property is three acres in size and comes with a building over 6,000 square metres. ” After overcoming my own preconcep- tions, we considered the property; bid on it and have successfully bought it. Even better, we paid only slightly more than half the 2012 price. We paid $5.85 million. The team and I are excited by securing a property in this small tightly-held commercial land area, servicing Sydney’s affluent Northern Suburbs. Analysis of the Sydney storage landscape has revealed the Pymble area as a gap, and one we have wanted to fill for many years.

The map provides some context of our new Pymble centre in the north shore and among our own nearby locations. The property is three acres in size and comes with a building over 6,000 square metres. Our development plans will result in a 12,000 square metre building area, and approximately 1,000 storage spaces. We will press on with obtaining Develop- ment Consent from Ku-ring-gai Council and hope to build in 2014. Sam Kennard Managing Director

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Kennards Kourier July 2013