‘Our biggest auction ever’: Developers buy Forrest land for $8.41m at auction

A developer has come out victorious after splashing $8.41 million on a parcel of land in Forrest at auction on Thursday afternoon.

Located directly opposite Parliament House, the 3767-square-metre block at 11-13 State Circle is currently occupied by a four-bedroom standalone house and an apartment complex of four units that has been sitting vacant for a number of years.

This was the first time the block had been on the market since 1962. It was formerly home to Sir Cyrus Lenox Hewitt, secretary to prime minister John Gorton, who died in February 2020.

Selling agent Miriana Cavic of Luton Properties Manuka described the auction as a “heated affair” between six of the 11 registered bidders.

An opening offer of $5 million kicked off the bidding process before the opening bidder upped their own offer by $500,000.

The price then increased in various $1 million and $500,000 increments before shortening to $10,000 strides. Eventually, auctioneer Richard Luton, also of Luton Properties Manuka, sold the land at $8.41 million.

The name of the developer has not been disclosed but Ms Cavic said the new buyer had done a number of developments in the capital.

Ms Cavic said she was surprised by the result, as she had initially expected the block to be sold for around the $7 million mark.

“Once it was all over, I got a number of emails and calls from people who were surprised with how much it went for,” she said. 

A number of groups turned up to Luton Properties’ Fyshwick office on Thursday, where the auction was held.

“We were at full capacity. We arranged 50 chairs in the boardroom and, of course, because of COVID-19, we couldn’t go beyond the allocated number of people and had to turn people away who were there out of curiosity,” Ms Cavic said.

“We had a number of developers there and lawyers bidding on behalf of different companies. People were in and out of the room. It was our biggest auction ever.”

Close to 70 contracts were issued during the six-week auction campaign.

“With limited development opportunities in Forrest, this block of land appealed to many buyers,” Ms Cavic said. “Given its location right on State Circle,  this site was a prominent location for many developers.”

Cox Architecture had drawn up plans for a 42-apartment complex in 2009 for the block of land, but Ms Cavic said she understood the new buyers would develop their own plans for the site.