West Gate servo the most expensive in a decade

A service station complex on Melbourne’s West Gate Freeway has sold for $22.5 million, making it the most expensive petrol station sold anywhere in Australia in more than 10 years.

The West Gate Express service station and fast food complex, built and opened earlier this year, sold on a yield of 5.5% to a Melbourne-based private investor amid an increasingly competitive market for petrol station assets.

The MAB-developed property was sold subject to 15-year leases to Viva Energy Australia, Red Rooster and Hungry Jacks, and draws an annual income of $1.41 million.

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It sits on a 10,000sqm site and features 700sqm of buildings, 1200sqm of canopy and 57 car parking spaces.

Savills agents Chris Jones, Clinton Baxter, Ben Hegerty and Dawkins Occhiuto’s Andrew Dawkins and Walter Occhiuto were the selling agents.

The Westgate Express complex is just 3km from Melbourne’s CBD.

Jones says the site’s position, which sees 180,000 cars pass daily, made it a uniquely appealing investment, with overseas investors weighing into the process.

“In addition to numerous local bids, we also generated multiple offers from Asia and Europe, with purchasers particularly driven by the property’s enviable and unique position on the West Gate Freeway, one of Australia’s busiest roads,” he says.

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“It was an opportunity that rarely comes to market and (is) unlikely to be repeated given the dearth of similar sites and properties offering such strong locational advantages.”

Baxter says the service station “ticked all the boxes of a superb commercial investment”.

“The property offered investors a brand new state-of-the-art facility with maximum depreciation benefits to complement the strong income from A-grade tenants Shell, Hungry Jacks and Red Rooster,’’ he says.