Sentinel keeps marching on regional Qld investments

May 13, 2016

Phil Bartsch | The Courier Mail

Warren Ebert’s Sentinel Property Group is continuing to expand its property holdings in regional Queensland with the acquisition of its seventh asset in Mackay.

The Brisbane fund manager has snapped up a fully leased facility at 37-39 Interlink Court in the Paget industrial precinct for $6.5 million. Established in 2010, Sentinel has a national portfolio of assets with a total value of more than $1 billion. It is one of the largest private owners of commercial property in the Mackay region with holdings totalling about $200 million.

The latest acquisition is its third property in Paget, which is about 8.5km southwest of the Mackay CBD and 3km southwest of Mackay Airport. On a 21,000sq m site, the asset comprises a single-level office building, freestanding warehouses, a paint booth, wash bay and small oil store. It is leased until May 2020 to global engineering group Sandvik, which also holds a five-year option. The buildings – with a total lettable area of 4671sq m, representing site coverage of only 22 per cent – are surrounded by extensive concrete car parking, concrete hardstand and road base hardstand.

Mr Ebert said Mackay had been an important focus of the company’s growth strategy and it has great confidence in the region’s economic future. He said Mackay had been the most important regional market in the national growth and success of Sentinel. “While the coal sector and Mackay’s residential property market have been facing difficulties, at the current prices we see a  lot of strong upside in commercial property investment in the region driven by its diversified economy and long-term growth prospects,” Mr Ebert said. “There is still an enormous amount of large-scale mining, infrastructure and transport investment underway and planned for Mackay, and commercial property in the region is well positioned to benefit. Mackay is about much more than just coal. It has multiple drivers in the agricultural, tourism and services sectors, which provide solid foundations for long-term sustainable growth.”

The sale of the Paget industrial property was negotiated by Stewart Gamblin of Colliers International.