By Jade Lawton
COMMERCIAL real estate in Berwick Village soared last week as the auction of number 1/5 Gloucester Avenue smashed the reserve price by nearly $200,000.
About 50 curious onlookers attended the auction, held on Thursday afternoon.
The office is leased by Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato, but her lease will not be renewed after the Parliament of Victoria deemed the premises lacked appropriate access for the disabled.
Facey Industrial Commercial realtor Matt Rice said the reserve price on the property was $575 000, but it sold for $780,000 to a “prominent investor”.
“We are very happy with the result,” Mr Rice said.
“Blue-chip sites like this come up very rarely – probably about one property a year in the highly prized Berwick commercial area.
“A ground-floor commercial property in Gloucester Avenue will always be hotly contested.”
Mr Rice said the 106m2 property, zoned business two, attracted five genuine bidders of investors and owner-occupiers, with three still bidding, in $1000 increments, after the $650,000 mark.
Business two zoning designates office and commercial activity centres.
While she can no longer host meetings in her office, Mrs Lobato has been meeting with constituents at the Beaconsfield Community Complex, local cafes and their homes, and retains the same fax and phone numbers.
Parliament must now find Mrs Lobato a new office within the 2053 square kilometres of the Gembrook electorate.
“The lease was extended from May to November as suitable accommodation could not be found at the time of the lease expiry,” she said.
“I do have some say about where the office is located, but when there is limited choice in premises, because of very strict building criteria, I could be encouraged to accept something that I am not entirely happy with.”
Ms Lobato said she did not yet know when the new office would be up and running, but assumed it would be before 30 November, when the lease on the Gloucester Avenue premises expired.
Ms Lobato’s new office will have to meet criteria regarding its size, price, proximity to public transport and access.
