APARTMENT developer Finbar has bought two of the last remaining mixed-use lots in the East Perth Redevelopment Authority’s New Northbridge precinct. The sale follows Finbar’s purchase of two lots on Lake Street in May last year, where it has 31 apartments and six commercial units under construction. The two recently purchased lots, of 1,072 square metres and 1,055sq m in size, are located on Newcastle Street next to Central Tafe and are diagonally opposite the proposed Tyne Square apartments and the Coles supermarket development. The Newcastle Street lots have the potential for three mixed-use buildings with commercial or retail on the ground floor and residential on the upper levels. EPRA chief executive Tony Morgan said it was a testament to the success of the project that leading developers such as Finbar were buying in Northbridge. “We recently set a sales record for vacant mixed-use land in the area of $1,889 per square metre with the sale of five smaller lots across the road in November, and the price achieved for the Newcastle Street lots is on a par with that,” Mr Morgan said. Finbar is expected to begin construction on the Newcastle lots in early 2008. Solid start to 2007 for Peet Ltd AUSTRALIA’S largest retail land syndicator, Peet Limited, has ended 2006 on a good note after capital raisings and syndications netted the company a total of $127.5 million in less than a month. This was the result of Peet’s successful institutional placement and share purchase plan offer in early December, which was followed by the second payment for investors in Peet Cranbourne Syndicate Limited. Its two latest syndicate opportunities, Peet Botanic Village Syndicate Limited in Victoria and the Peet Mundijong Syndicate Limited in Western Australia, also closed after attracting 1,300 applicants. Peet Limited managing director Warrick Hemsley said shares in the latest syndicates were allotted on December 29 2006, after it exceeding the minimum subscriptions. Mr Hemsley said oversubscriptions were able to be accepted in both the syndicates.
