Waterfront Windfall
May 20, 2022
A LEADING syndicator has weighed anchor, selling a large waterfront industrial property for $40m more than it was bought for more than five years ago.
Sentinel Property Group sold a bulk storage industrial facility at 69 Tingira St, Pinkenba, within the Australia TradeCoast precinct in Brisbane’s east to an unnamed owner-occupier for $89m.
Sentinel bought the 14ha site on a leaseback arrangement with global diversified industrial chemical company Incitec Pivot for $48.5m in October, 2017.
Sentinel chief executive Warren Ebert said that at the time he was told he had paid “far too much and would never get our money back”.
“But I thought 35 acres (14ha) on the water with its own 38,000 ton (34,500 tonne) wharf was a rare find, and this has proved to be the case,” he said.
“While we were not a motivated seller, the industrial market was at the stage where the offers we were getting presented with were far too good to ignore.
“With interest rates starting to move up, we have seen some buyers becoming cautious and vendors expectations have already started to adjust. This is a great time to be sitting on plenty of cash.”
The deal, which struck by Savills’ Toby Hundertmark, delivered an internal rate of return of more than 20 per cent for investors.
The Pinkenba facility had been part of the Sentinel Industrial Trust, which includes assets in Mackay, Townsville, Brisbane, Mayfield in Newcastle and Tuggerah on the NSW Central Coast.
The property comprises 26,676sq m of buildings, including high-clearance warehouses and four liquid storage tanks with an 11.94 megalitre product capacity.
The site also has 1.5ha of seabed lease.
Incitec Pivot runs its fertiliser distribution centre from the Pinkenba site and leases about 11.5ha of the property.
The facility benefits from a wharf suitable for smaller bulk carriers with deadweight limit of 38,000 metric ton.
The wharf is rated for liquid and solid bulk products.