The smell of wheat is well and truly gone.
The smell of wheat is well and truly gone.
Instead, fresh paint and the scent of woodcuttings linger throughout the four 28-metre high former wheat silos on the picturesque Koombana Bay in Bunbury.
The 69-year-old heritage-listed silo buildings have been under redevelopment for the past three years to create 21 luxury apartments, which sold off the plan for between $550,000 and $1.5 million in 2004.
WA Business News had the rare opportunity to take a look around the two eighth-floor penthouses which are nearing completion, something even some of the executives working for selling agent The Professionals have yet to achieve.
And it’s understandable why they want a peak.
The view (above right) is breathtaking to say the least.
Interestingly, Professionals Bunbury selling agent Stan Clifton said the penthouse apartment that faced the city of Bunbury was more popular than the one facing the bay.
“It surprised us,” Mr Clifton said.
“People told us that they would get the city lights in the evening, whereas on the other side it would just be black.”
Each of the two 185 square metre penthouses has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and three car bays, with views of Koombana Bay from each bedroom and the living room. There’s a huge balcony that stretches from the living room to the main bedroom.
Just about every room has a curve in the wall, which should mean furnishing choices for the apartments will be just as innovative as their construction.
The 21 Bunbury Silo apartments are due to be completed in May and, while they all sold off the plan, there are now two three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments on the market.
Mr Clifton said one apartment was on the market for $1.3 million while the other was being marketed at $1.2 million. He said he was currently negotiating the sale of one of those apartments.
Mr Clifton said the apartments were for sale because the original buyers failed to secure finance.
The owners of the silo apartments have done well from the booming property market.
Some astute buyers who secured their circular pads at the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2005 have paid almost half as much as those that recently sold at the sister apartment complex, stage three of the silos development, which is expected to be completed in September 2008.
Mr Clifton reckons the silo penthouses, sold for about $1.5 million, will fetch about $2.5 million.
But the $975,000 to $2.3 million price tag at the nearby six-storey stage three development hasn’t deterred the buyers.
The apartments were put on the market in late December and 17 of the 25 are sold off the plans.
Residents of the stage three beachfront complex also have access to the on-site tennis court and indoor heated swimming pool complex.
Adjoining the six-storey apartment block will be a 64-room four-and-a-half star Saville hotel, which will be separated from the residential apartments by an atrium.
