Lovegrove Turf Farm’s founders are selling 15ha of land in Wattle Grove worth more than $20 million, after years of interest from some of the country’s largest developers.
Wattle Grove’s Lovegrove Turf Farm has hit the market after close to 50 years of ownership, as its founders look to continue their pursuits in other parts of the state.
Dick Lovegrove, who purchased the first parcel of the 15-hectare farm with his wife, Ann, in 1973, told Business News he had received several enquiries from prominent developers in recent years.
“We’ve had interest from lifestyle villages and developers … and I’ve decided it’s time to initiate getting on with life ourselves,” Mr Lovegrove said.
Mr Lovegrove, 79, said he would continue to play an active part in the business, producing turf for the company’s shopfront in Wattle Grove, long after selling the land.
The family owns farmland in Harvey, where Mr Lovegrove said he planned to establish “the most organic environmentally responsible turf farm in the world”.
“If I was going to retire, I would have retired at 50, not 80,” he said.
The Western Australian Planning Commission identified the sites as an area for urban expansion under its plan for Perth and Peel’s population to reach 3.5 million, set out in 2015.
Business News understands national developers including Stockland, Mirvac and Cedar Woods are all looking at the site in detail.
Effective Property Solutions launched expressions of interest in the property, at lots 4, 53, 213, 214, 303 Brentwood Rd, on Wednesday (November 3) and was met with a flood of enquiries.
“We have had 30 enquiries in 24 hours,” Effective Property Solutions managing director Erwin Edlinger said.
“These types of properties don’t come along very often of this scale and size and it being so clear without vegetation for development.”
Mr Edlinger added that in recent years “pretty much every developer has knocked on his [Mr Lovegrove's] door”.
The agency’s head of residential projects, Sarah Hart, said the properties were the largest and most contiguous landholdings in Wattle Grove’s proposed urban precinct.
Mr Edlinger said he expected offers above $20 million for all five lots, with the deal likely to be subject to a structured terms negotiation process whereby the properties were acquired progressively over two to three years.
“This would allow time for the land to be rezoned to 'urban development' [from rural] and the preferred development group to be able to pay a value more reflective of a near urban land value,” he said.
Landowners are open to working with a preferred developer over the medium term to rezone the property, maximise the development yield and settle on an agreed acquisition sale price, Mr Edlinger added.
The listing follows JWH Group founder Julian Walter putting his 8554ha farm in WA's Great Southern on the market for $90 million earlier this month.
Expressions of interest on the Wattle Grove property close on November 29.
