The nation’s second-largest automotive retailer recently sold an 18,000 square-metre site in the Brisbane riverside suburb of Newstead to property company Seymour Group for $61 million.

AP Eagers is also nearing the sale of three other Newstead sites for $55.5 million, which were struck in May this year. In 2018, it sold two sites after selling five in 2017.

The latest Newstead sale to Seymour Group is conditional to AP Eagers leasing the properties for up to seven years. They are the location for the dealer group’s Metro Ford, Eagers Mazda, Brisbane City Land Rover, City Subaru and Austral Honda showrooms.

The sales are the pathway for AP Eagers to centre the majority of its Brisbane dealerships at the airport. It has secured 64,124 square-metres of space in the Auto Mall.

AP Eagers chief executive Martin Ward said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange last week that the Newstead sale “will provide a significant profit and cash contribution, with the proceeds intended to be used to repay corporate debt and to further strengthen the company’s balance sheet as it pursues future growth initiatives.”

“The sale and leaseback of this property, on attractive terms, is consistent with our active approach to managing our property portfolio and underpins our strategic move to the world-class Auto Mall planned for Brisbane Airport,” he said.

Mr Ward said that the sale was a key step in the execution of AP Eagers’ ‘Next100’ future growth strategy. 

“We will continue to engage our customers everywhere by levering our flexible property portfolio to develop dealership retailing networks fit for the future (and) aligned with changing customer preferences,” he said.

“A major component of this strategy is our move to the Brisbane Auto Mall. We will relocate a number of dealerships from Newstead to the Auto Mall to provide a truly unique and world-class customer experience.”

AP Eagers is estimated to retain a property portfolio of about $320 million following the recent sales.

The Seymour Group indicated the site would be for future residential development. The company is a long-standing Brisbane developer and has been responsible for buildings including Admiralty Wharf, Queens Plaza and MacArthur Chambers. 

Seymour Group director and founder Kevin Seymour said in a statement that it was “almost impossible to find a site so large and well-located this close to the city”.

By Neil Dowling