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$170,000 a year in lost rent as medical centre in prime Orange location sits empty
May 17, 2022
By Peter Holmes
It's one of the great mysteries of Orange real estate, and it has already cost a property owner hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential rental income.
A 490-square-metre building was constructed a few years ago on prime land to house a variety of medical professionals in a growth area, opposite a shopping centre. Twenty-two parking spaces to boot.
Despite these elements - seemingly all in its favour - the building has remained empty. No scans, no blood tests, no examinations, no caps or crowns, no friendly chats with a psychologist.
Nothing.
Each year it is costing the owners more than $170,000 ($350 per square metre annually) in foregone rent to have it sit idle.
The question is why?
The site is near Waratah Sports Club. It's opposite North Orange shopping centre, and close to McDonald's. There is plenty of parking. New houses are being constructed nearby.
And demand for certain medical services in Orange is outstripping supply as the population expands.
People wait months to see some specialists. Some practitioners have had to close their books. People are always on social media saying they've moved to Orange and need to lock in GP and other medical services.
Is it due to our inability to attract enough GPs and specialists - a theme common throughout rural and regional Australia - to fill it?
Or is the rent of $350 per square metre annually too high for something outside the CBD?
Records show the vacant land was bought in September 2018 for $907,500.
An advertisement for a house on the neighbouring block in September 2019 stated: "The location is amazing! These homes are directly adjacent to the new North Orange medical centre..."
Leasing agent for the medical centre David Hall from Benchmark told The Orange News Examiner that there had been enquiries and inspections.
"We'll find someone for it," he said, "but I can't predict how long it will take."
One real estate agent, talking on the condition of anonymity, said some medical professionals may prefer to buy an older house close to the CBD for conversion into medical suites, rather than pay rent on a property.
Meanwhile, Hall described the industrial market in Orange as "very strong".
"There is virtually no industrial land for sale; there is very limited supply of industrial property to lease, and rents have been increasing over the last 12 months."
He said retail rents had also increased "off the low from Covid" and that "slowly but surely, if you look around the main street, you'll see there are still some vacancies, but less vacancies than 12 months ago".
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