A flurry of main street activity salvaged a slow year of commercial real estate sales in Wagga.
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The building next door to Wagga Marketplace on Baylis Street housing Montezuma’s Mexican Restaurant has been sold for $1.15 million.
The building housing the prominent restaurant and bar previously sold for $335,000 in 2007 then $1 million in 2010.
Montezuma’s came under fire in 2015 when a two-year-old was hospitalised after allegedly being served bleach instead of water.
But according to Raine and Horne Wagga director Grant Harris, the Mexican eatery is “trading as well as ever” and the new owners don’t intend on changing tenants any time soon.
“The people who bought the building are regional and bought it as an investment,” Mr Harris said.
“Commercial real estate (in Wagga) is quite good; tenanted properties are selling well with good yield.
“Investment properties are selling better than owner-occupied properties.”
There were half as many commercial real estate sales in 2016 compared to 2015 and the median price was down 21.4 per cent.
Bucking the trend was the sale of the 5,778 square-metre Edward Street shopping complex occupied by Petbarn, BCF (Boating Camping Fishing) and The Good Guys.
The complex sold at auction for a whopping $7.8 million in October, $1.9m more than the last time the complex sold in 2011.
Meanwhile, adjoining Baylis Street buildings between Lowes and Milton’s Gear also sold late last year.
164 Baylis Street, occupied by The Stitchery, sold for $499,000, just $7,000 – or 1 per cent – more than the price it fetched back in March 2014.
Neighbouring 162 Baylis Street, which formerly housed Travelscene and Fashion Point before that, sold for $495,000.
That sale marked a 77 per cent spike compared to when it last traded hands in 2003 for a comparatively paltry $280,000.
The spike in sales during October and November comes after Romano’s Hotel on Fitzmaurice Street sold for $3.3 million in July, 175 per cent dearer than the $1.2m it fetched in December 2008.
The white office building on the corner of Baylis and Morrow streets – opposite Wagga council chambers – known as Best Place, sold late last year for $1,580,000.
The sale price made for a 46 per cent jump from 2007, when it attracted $1,080,000.