Winning bid stumps rivals

A property investor clean bowled rival bidders to secure a newly-developed car wash asset in the Brisbane-Gold Coast growth corridor.

And while inking the $2.245 million deal, the Melbourne-based buyer also scored a personally signed bat from an Australian cricketing great.

The Pimpama property was sold under the hammer with a new 10 year option in place to Hoppy’s Car Wash, a business chain owned by former Test cricketer Ian Healy and rugby league great Chris Johns.

Its buyer was among 10 registered bidders competing for the asset at Burgess Rawson commercial property portfolio auction.

Selling agent Glenn Conridge said the successful bidder, who did not want to be names, was not only an astute investor but also a self-confessed cricket tragic.

“The first thing the buyer said as he was signing the contracts after the auction was ‘do you think Mr Ian Healy would sign a bat for me? I’m a very big fan,” he said.

Mr Conridge said the newly-developed property was bought sight unseen and the purchaser recently came to Queensland to inspect it for the first time and attend its official open say.

“Ian Healy was there on the day,” he said. “We’d told him the story, so he bought a bat for the occasion and when he met the new owner he signed and presented it to him.”

Mr Conridge said the winning bid for the Pimpama asset reflected a net yield of 5.8 per cent.

The car wash sits on a 1,325 sqm site at 27 Dixon Drive and adjoins a United Petroleum fuel and fast food service centre sold last year in a $16.35 million deal, also brokered by Burgess Rawson.

In the lead-up to the Hoppy’s Car Wash being taken to auction, more than 100 enquiries were fielded from investors from around Australia.

“Bidding was exceptionally strong on the day,” Mr Conridge said. “And we expect demand for assets like this in that sub $3 million price range will unquestionably continue in the prevailing low interest rate environment.”

Written by Phil Bartsch for the Courier Mail