Rivergum Homes’ Mile End South office for sale ahead of its move

Prominent home builder Rivergum Homes is relocating to smaller office premises at Brompton as it continues its exit from individual house builds to focus on medium-density residential development.

Rivergum’s current Mile End South office at 387-391 South Rd has been listed for sale as the company awaits the completion of building works at its new Second St premises.

In a major shake up to its business operations, Rivergum, South Australia’s second largest home builder behind the Hickinbotham Group, announced last year that it had stopped taking orders from individual customers and was doubling down on major townhouse projects.

The move resulted in five redundancies to the company’s 100-odd staff.

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Rivergum Homes’ Mile End South office at 387-391 South Rd has hit the market.

The home builder, SA’s second largest, is moving to a new office.

The new building will not have a design studio that showcases home fixtures and fittings like the one at Mile End South does.

At the time, Rivergum stated almost 270 individual customers needed to have their homes completed before the company could fully transition out of its retail business, a restructure that was expected to take two years.

Rivergum head of people, culture, safety and IT Nikki Hume confirmed the imminent departure from the Mile End two-storey office building was “part of a strategic move to a new location at Bowden’’.

“As we pivoted last year towards medium-density housing and transitioned away from the traditional retail housing market, consolidating our team in a single-floor, purpose-built space will allow us to operate more efficiently and fully align with our sole focus,’’ Ms Hume said.

Rivergum staff are expected to move to the new Brompton office in mid-April, after building work is complete.

Unlike the existing office space, the new building would not have a dedicated design studio to showcase home fittings and fixtures, Ms Hume said.

Leedwell Property partner Andrew Zammit, who is selling the Mile End South property with Mitch Curnow, said the office was custom-built for Rivergum Homes in 2012 but was owned by another party.

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The office building spans two storeys and has the showroom or warehouse at the back.

It is being sold via an expressions of interest campaign that closes on February 26.

It is positioned on Adelaide’s busiest transit corridor.

He said several professional service and medical providers, as well as investors, had expressed interest in the sale, with offers expected to be received in the mid-$6m range.

“That figure of value is lower than replacement value,’’ Mr Zammit said.

“And with the scarcity of property (available) to move straight into, owner-occupiers … will appreciate that pricing even more.’’

The 2492sqm property consists of an office and showroom/warehouse facilities totalling 1753sqm of floor space and comes with 50 car parks.

Mr Zammit said it had unparalleled branding opportunities, with up to 50,000 vehicles passing the site daily.

“There’s been a fair bit of gentrification in the Mile End and Thebarton area and … as a location, it’s quite sought after,’’ he said.

Expressions of interest close on February 26.

– by Lauren Ahwan