Suburban Land Agency sells Belconnen and Lawson development sites at auction

The Belconnen and Lawson sites were released for sale by the ACT government's Suburban Land Agency.

The double auction event kicked off with the Belconnen site, located on the corner of Lathlain and Cohen streets opposite the Westfield shopping centre.

Bidding started at $13.8 million and stalled about 10 minutes later at $18,225,000. Discussions between the CBRE sales agent and buyers ensued before the same bidder increased their offer to $18.25 million and the hammer fell.

The successful bidder was development group JWLand, which also has development plans underway on nearby Chandler Street.

The 5700-square-metre Lathlain Street block is part of the new Belconnen Village precinct, on land that once housed the police station and remand centre. The former Belconnen fire station was also located further up the street.

The block has potential for an 18-storey mixed-use development, with up to 436 homes.

JWLand head of development, ACT Michael Prendergast said the group was excited about developing the block.

"We'll be looking at a range of options for the site," he said.

"There's a lot of opportunity there to build on that 'eat street' vibe that they've got on Lathlain Street at the moment."

He said there were complexities with the site, due to previous contamination in the area, but he said the group were "geared up to be able to deal with these".

Then it was onto the second auction, the release of a 11,500-square-metre Lawson block, located off Ginninderra Drive.

The site is required to be an all-electric development and has the potential for up to 184 homes.

Again there were three active bidders, including two who participated in the first auction. It took just five minutes for the block to sell for $14 million, $2 million over the reserve price.

The successful buyer was local developer Anthony Tokich of Per Se Developments, the group behind the 24-storey Cirrus tower in Belconnen.

He said the initial plan for the Lawson site was a sustainable community with a mixture of townhouses and apartments.

"I've got a lot of confidence with the Belconnen market and I think having these mixed-use sites close to town centres is very important," Mr Tokich said.

Mr Tokich was also bidding for the Belconnen block. On whether he considered purchasing both he said, "Potentially, at the right price".

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A spokesperson for the Suburban Land Agency said the event was one of the first in-person auctions the agency had hosted since COVID-19.

"It was really nice to have everyone in the room, it had that real sense of competition that you don't get quite as well online," they said.

"All the key players came along and we were really excited to see that they have such enthusiasm for the Canberra market still."

Speaking about the Belconnen Village precinct on Lathlain Street, the spokesperson said the final block would be released soon.

"The only remaining site in that precinct will be the site of the former fire station. [We're] doing further contamination testing on that one to determine exactly how that's best developed," they said.

A public park would also be included in the precinct in response to community feedback, the spokesperson said.

Another block in the precinct, located on Walder Street, sold to a company headed up by local developer Rick Farzan in 2022 for $12,005,000.

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