Developer Goldfields acquires WA’s Sorrento Beach Resort for $30m
Property developer Goldfields has acquired Western Australia’s Quality Resort Sorrento Beach for more than $30 million, industry sources revealed, adding to their growing portfolio outside the eastern seaboard.
Located on 9000 square metres of beachfront land about 17 kilometres north-west of Perth’s CBD, Sorrento Beach Resort at 1 Padbury Circle includes studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
The acquisition marks a two-year-long amalgamation of 81 individual strata title units, giving Goldfields full control of the asset and business. CBRE’s Derek Barlow and Chloe Mason brokered the deals with all its owners over that time.
It takes the property developer’s Western Australian portfolio to three, joining its Spindrift residential estate in the Margaret River and their recently acquired 200-lot subdivision in Cowaramup.
Goldfields chief executive Lachlan Thompson said the company first looked at the Sorrento Beach Resort as purely a development deal but after piecing together its individual strata titles, they wanted to do more.
“We were going to originally rezone the parcel of land and then pursue either a residential development or a larger scale, international hotel development,” Thompson told The Australian Financial Review.
“However, the fundamentals and the turnover of the business, it was too good to ignore. It’s also actually got a great income profile, and on an asset that we don’t think has been actually worked as hard as it possibly could.”
The developer’s caution reflects the tension between need for more housing in well-located sites of urban Australia and the resistance many proposed new projects face from existing residents concerned about rising traffic and activity levels.
The Padbury Circle property sits across the road from the $74 million Ora Sorrento, a 75-apartment boutique building in development by Megara, a company headed by Matthew Pickford, Chad Scott, and Jamie Clarke.
Construction is under way on the eight-storey, 130 West Coast Drive project that in September 2022 was rejected by the local City of Joondalup and opposed by many locals who said it did not suit the local area, but was approved two months later by the state government Western Australian Planning Commission.
Thompson said after assessing Perth and the broader Western Australian hotel market, the company identified a severe shortage of well-located boutique style hotels and serviced apartment offerings.
“It’s been supply starved for a very long time and the projects that have managed to get up and off the ground have sort of set benchmarks from a build to sell, built form perspective, in terms of revenue,” he said.
“Our plan is to continue operating Sorrento Beach Resort while implementing immediate value-add opportunities that benefit guests and the broader Sorrento community.
“The acquisition represents a significant beachfront land holding with strong land value, immediate income with upside potential and a variety of future development options.”
Goldfields wanted to eventually introduce a restaurant and bar offering to the resort and renovate its ground floor, he said.
Gareth Wilson, WA state director at Goldfields, said the resort had huge potential and the purchase reflected the company’s commitment to growing its WA portfolio.
“We are thrilled to have secured this property that will ultimately form part of an emerging precinct,” Wilson said.
