Commercial Property Management Joondalup

Joondalup is a planned centre rather than a strip that grew, and it reads that way. The CBD is built around Grand Boulevard, with Lakeside Joondalup shopping centre next to the railway station and backing onto the boulevard, and townhouses and apartments sitting among the commercial floorspace.

The stock is newer than almost any other precinct on this list, which changes the ownership proposition. Fewer heritage constraints, more purpose built office and consulting space, better parking provision, and buildings young enough that the capital plan is about maintenance rather than restoration.

The centre sits within the City of Joondalup, whose council chambers are in the CBD. Joondalup station is on the Yanchep line with a journey of about 25 minutes to the Perth CBD, free CAT services circulate through the centre, and three Mitchell Freeway interchanges serve the area.

Most suburban centres depend on retail spending and the local population. Joondalup has something more durable underneath it, and an owner should understand what it is.

Joondalup Health Campus is the main public hospital for Perth’s northern suburbs, with Joondalup Private Hospital alongside it. The Joondalup Learning Precinct brings Edith Cowan University, North Metropolitan TAFE and the Western Australia Police Academy into the centre. Government and administrative functions sit here too, with the council, the library serving Joondalup and Wanneroo, the Australian Electoral Commission, a police station and a Magistrates Court.

Health, education and government do not move out in a downturn, and they generate their own demand for commercial space around them. A hospital supports specialists, pathology, allied health and medical services. A university and a TAFE support student services, professional practices and food and beverage. A court and a police station support legal practices. That is why a Joondalup office or consulting suite is generally a steadier proposition than the same building in a purely retail catchment, and it is the first thing we look at when assessing a holding here.

A consulting suite near the health campus and a professional office near the court are letting to different tenants for different reasons. The marketing should follow the anchor, not the postcode.

Consulting and treatment space carries plumbing, waste, power, accessibility and sometimes shielding requirements, and the make good position on a medical fitout needs writing properly at the start.

A good deal of the office and consulting stock is strata titled, so levies and by laws sit alongside the lease and both must reconcile.

Provision here is better than the inner suburbs and tenants expect it. What is on title, what is licensed and what is shared should be established before marketing.

A shop of 1,000 square metres or less is likely covered by the Commercial Tenancy (Retail Shops) Agreements Act 1985, which changes disclosure, itemised outgoings and the minimum term.

Leases are administered against their own dates, so rent reviews, option windows and expiries are prepared for in advance rather than noticed late. Under a retail lease covered by the Act the landlord must notify the tenant six to twelve months before an option has to be exercised, and that notice is diarised.

Outgoings are budgeted before each year, billed as the leases allow and reconciled at year end. Maintenance runs through contractors we use repeatedly. Owners receive monthly statements and an end of financial year package prepared to the standard an accountant expects, and every property has one senior manager attached to it.

Managing a northern corridor asset from West Perth is a deliberate arrangement rather than a compromise. The portfolio is kept small enough that attending a property is normal, and an owner is dealing with the person who knows the building rather than whoever is on the desk.

Where the question is whether to hold, refurbish or sell, our advisory service covers that separately.

Medical specialists, pathology and allied health around the hospitals. Legal practices and government related services around the court and the administrative functions. Professional services, accounting, financial planning and engineering firms who serve the northern corridor and would rather be in it than commute to the city. Education and training providers, student services, recruitment, and the food and beverage and personal services that follow all of them.

What these tenants want is space that works on day one, parking they can rely on, and a landlord who deals with a maintenance issue rather than debating it. Few of them are looking for character, which makes Joondalup a market where condition and presentation do more than architecture.

Incentives move with the market and the quality of the space. We assess what is reasonable against what is actually being agreed, and settle the heads of agreement before the lease is drawn.

A leased Joondalup property is an income purchase, priced on the passing rent, the lease terms and length, the strength of the tenant and yields achieved on comparable sales. Medical and government related tenancies tend to be viewed favourably because the covenant and the reason for being there are both durable.

A vacant suite is priced on what an owner occupier will pay, and in this centre that pool is real. Practices and professional firms buy their own premises here more often than they do in the inner suburbs.

Buyers will want the leases and variations, a tenancy schedule with the expiry profile, outgoings budgets and reconciliations, building and fire compliance records, strata documents where relevant, the parking arrangement documented, and the zoning. Having it assembled before launch keeps the negotiation on price.