Wong changes Perth plans

It has been three years since Indonesian real estate mogul Mimi Wong went on a $20 million spending spree in Western Australia, buying two prime sites in the CBD and Burswood with plans to develop high-rise apartments.

The LJ Hooker Indonesia franchisor and chair of the Golden Group was already established in WA’s property scene, having developed more than 700 homes in Perth’s inner-east since 1995.

Fast forward to 2007 and Ms Wong has just sold the 1.2 hectare Sands & McDougall site on Burswood Road, Burswood, to a large development group and is about to sell the four-storey former RAC building and adjoining car park on the corner of Adelaide Terrace and Hill Street in Perth.

Among those $20 million purchases, Golden Commercial, a subsidiary of the Golden Group, had earmarked the Burswood site for a 158 residential apartment and commercial building, while in Perth it planned a 448-unit complex across 228-236 Adelaide Terrace.

Ms Wong said it was no longer interested in pursuing the developments and wanted to take advantage of the strong investor demand for commercial office property in Perth by selling.

 “This is a family business and I am concerned about the higher levels of risk involved in developing apartment projects now,” she said.

“The apartment market is still ok in Perth compared to prices in Sydney or Singapore, but we don’t want to get involved. Our strengths are in land subdivision.”

Bought for $9.2 million in 2004, the 11,867sq m site on Adelaide Terrace was first carved up in 2005 when Golden Commercial sold a rear 4,738sq m portion facing Hay Street to apartment developer Finbar for $5.5 million.

The remaining 7,000sq m of the site is now home to the Golden Group’s two-storey headquarters as well as the former RAC building now leased by Synergy, and a car park. 

Ms Wong said she planned to re-invest the money into more land subdivisions in Victoria, where the group would be opening an office later this year.

“The land here is very expensive. Three to four years ago the prices were reasonable, now they’re not so good. I have a strong feeling about Melbourne and want to buy more land,” she said.

The Golden Group already has a 42ha land parcel at Melton South near Melbourne under offer, with plans for a 380-lot subdivision and a 26ha lot with 285 lots to be developed.

Banking on a market upswing in WA, in 2003 the group also bought large land parcels in Maddington, Meadow Springs Mandurah and Seabird, near Lancelin.

Ms Wong said it was offering 122 Summit Group-built house-and-land packages on its 8.7ha Golden Maddington River Estate for between $380,000 and $435,000, as well as 30 house-and-land packages out of 103 packages at Meadow Springs.

Not limiting her sights on Perth, Ms Wong is still seeking rural land holdings for the Golden Group, following the acquisition of a 367ha beachfront property in Seabird in 2003 and more recently a 2,000ha sheep and cattle station at Eneabba.

Ms Wong said the group paid $3 million for the Seabird property and intended to apply for a tourism zoning to build short-stay bungalows.

“People keep calling with offers three to five times more than what I paid, but I’m not interested. It’s my dream for it to be a beautiful holiday place where I can retire,” she told WA Business News.