Commercial sector back in business

MILDURA real estate agent Ryan Tierney’s business is having a golden start to the year.

On the heels of a record sales month in January, the Tierney Real Estate director says he is on track for a record March as he carves a niche in the commercial property sector.

“It’s going really well and to be honest, we need more (commercial) stock on the market,” Mr Tierney said this week.

After recently selling the freehold site where Hodgo’s bike shop was located in Pine Avenue for about $1.6 million, he is leading the sale of smaller-scale commercial property at 1/78 Lime Ave, which went up for auction yesterday. (FRI)

He was confident of it being sold after fielding offers from four groups on the eve of the auction.

But it’s the construction of a new development at the former Steeline premises in Tenth Street that has Mr Tierney buzzing.

“We’ve already sold 20 of the 26 allotments off the plan for this development,” he said.

However, when it comes to the future of Langtree Mall, Mr Tierney remains cautiously optimistic.

“There’s still about half-a-dozen shops for lease in the mall, but during the pandemic, it was probably triple that,” Mr Tierney said.

“There’s confidence in there, but it hurts when you lose a big national (chain) like Priceline.

“There could be a few reasons for the remaining vacant shops. Some could have too high of a price to lease.”

Collie & Tierney First National director Ben Ridley believes that Langtree Mall is “not viable in the long term”.

“The reality is that while people are going in and trying new things, which I absolutely pat them on the back for, shoppers still aren’t going into the mall in big numbers,” Mr Ridley said this week.

“I see no long-term benefit in keeping the mall. Put it this way, I wouldn’t move my business into a mall.”

See also: Property market bouncing back