FKP's Albion Project

FKP is promoting its The Hudson at Albion Hill project.  See www.themillalbion.com.au.

Quote from Courier Mail advertorial, 8 June 2013 from FKP's general manager of developments:

"Overwhelmingly pivotal in all deals has been the size of apartments...  This difference is real, it matters and its definitely a deal-maker.  People want space in an apartment."

The advertorial highlights a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment that is 67 sqm.  In my view, a 67 sqm two-bedroom apartment does not have space!  This is a tiny apartment.  One of these apartments is advertised at $399,000.

FKP Releases The Hudson at Albion Mill

Yesterday, FKP released the first stage of the Albion Mill development for sale, off the plan.  Apartments are for sale in the building called The Hudson.  There are 134 apartments in this building.  It is located near the Albion railway station.  The building is about 12 storeys, and looks very much like the El Dorado Village development.

2010 Brisbane Apartment Awards

These are our awards for 2010:

1. Wildest Advertising Claim

FKP Properties wins this for their overpriced The Milton development. Their sales agents are giving out printed information to potential investors about future property values. They have a sheet of paper showing investment returns for a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment listed at $650,000. The prediction is that this apartment will be worth $807,500 on completion of the project in 2013, and will be worth over $1M by 2016. The predicted rent is over $720 a week in 2013.

2. Worst Investment

This is a hard one. Many investors who purchased off-the-plan in 2006 or 2007 had to settle this year. Some were unable to get bank valuations anywhere near settlement. The contenders for this category are:

• Mirvac's Tennyson Reach
• Niecon's The Oracle at Broadbeach
• Raptis' The Hilton Surfers Paradise
• Evolution.

I think they are all bad investments, so maybe a four way tie!

3. Biggest Delayed Development

Again, a number of contenders for this category. There are many big developments that have been delayed indefinitely -- Trilogy, Evolution, Empire Square, FKP's Albion Mill. South Point is another contender here -- although it looks about to finally begin.

But the winner is El Dorado at Indooroopilly. Construction has been about to start for years now. What is going on at this development?

The Mill At Albion

The rumor around town is that the Mill at Albion development, by FKP, has been shelved and will not go ahead.

Brisbane Development Update

In April 2008, I listed apartments buildings that were planned for Brisbane.

Here is an update of that post. Times have changed!

1. Trilogy Hotel - 192 apartments - being sold off the plan, but project on indefinite hold
2. Trilogy Skyhome Apartments - 109 apartments - on indefinite hold
   
3. Westin Residences (Empire Square) - 104 apartments - project abandoned.
   
4. Waters Edge at West End - 220 apartments in the first 2 buildings to be released - earthworks have started
   
5. Union at Milton - 213 residential apartments and 127 hotel rooms - status unknown
   
6. French Quarter - about 70 apartments and 150 hotel rooms - project abandoned
   
7. Hamilton Harbour - about 250 apartments - stages one and two being sold off-the-plan; construction finance not yet obtained
   
8. Meriton Tower - 200 serviced apartments plus 200 residential apartments - now called Soleil, and all apartments -- no hotel or serviced apartment component.
   
9. The Mill at Albion - likely to be cancelled
   
10. Waterfront Newstead - 631 apartments - two buildings under construction
    

Current off-the-plan buildings being marketed and under construction

1. Vision (400 apartments) - cancelled
   
2. Iceworks at Paddington (47 apartments) - complete
   
3. Parklands at Sherwood (82 apartments for sale now; 211 apartments planned in total) stages one and two complete
   
4. Tennyson Reach (393 apartments) - two buildings complete, and a third building under construction
   
5. SL8 (112 apartments) - complete
   
6. Ciana Indooroopilly (132 apartments) - complete
   
7. Portside Hamilton - three buildings complete, one building in off-the-plan sales
   
8. Riverpoint West End (280 apartments) - under construction
   
9. The Macrossan (42 apartments) - under construction
   
10. SW1 (57 apartments) - complete
    
11. Fresh Toowong (92 apartments) - complete
    

FKP Slow to Start Construction

"FOUR years after Transit Oriented Developments were touted as key to housing thousands of people around transport hubs, building is yet to start on any.

Instead projects designed to create a self-contained living, working and leisure environment in Brisbane have been blocked by red tape, rising headworks charges, financing issues and business woes.

It's not that the concept has no appeal. FKP's The Mill project in the inner northern Brisbane suburb of Albion has had strong pre-sales. But in light of changing market conditions, FKP is still awaiting approval after reconfiguring some plans.

The company has also spent years developing plans for another TOD over the railway station at Milton, in the city's inner west, and has revised plans awaiting approval from the Brisbane City Council.

But without approvals in place yet there is no certainty as to when construction will start."

Courier Mail

The Mill at Albion

The AFR reported that sales at FKP's The Mill project at Albion were strong, with 120 out of 132 apartments sold, at an average of $6500 a sqm.  For smallish apartments, where most of the two bedroom apartments don't have an external view from the second bedroom, and there is only a galley kitchen, and the overall aspect and views are poor, it seems that FKP has done well here.  I wonder how happy purchasers will be when this project is complete?

Milton Union Station Development

"A 30-storey highrise with 210 units, hotel, and a 10 storey office tower over Milton railway station will be built within the next three years after receiving the greenlight from Brisbane City Council."
See Courier Mail
I wonder if the fumes and smoke output from the brewery will impact those living in the apartments?

The article also mentions the Mill at Albion:
"FKP is also building another transit oriented development at Albion, which was approved by the council in April. Mr Miller said so far 120 of the 140 units averaging about $650,000 each had been sold."

Google Insights

Google has an interesting service, that allows you to see what people are searching for on Google.

It is called Google Insights. It is helpful when making investment decisions.

For example, when looking at searches conducted in Australia over the past 12 months, the following are relative rankings of various searches:

trilogy brisbane	27
mill albion	38
empire square	44
westin brisbane	21
sl8	13

mirvac	59
pradella	1
devine	62
fkp	10
stockland	56

indooroopilly	62
new farm	40
west end	54
st lucia	19
toowong	44

The Mill at Albion Goes on Public Sale

The Mill development by FKP at Albion went on sale today in public release. There had been about 4 weeks of pre-release sales to people who had pre-registered or who were on the FKP database. It was reported that more than 70% of the 143 apartments had sold in pre-release.

The development consists of 4 new buildings -- 2 which are residential, and 2 are commercial. There is also an old flour mill on the site, which will be renovated. One residential building is 10 floors high, and apartments in this building look south to the city or east over Albion. This building has a lap pool on a podium deck. The second building has apartments that mostly look east, but some weird shaped apartments look north. (One line of apartments looks directly into two old silos, which will remain on site.) People living in the second building have access to the pool in the first building, but will have to cross a road to get to that building.

Most of the apartments have 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. All the one bedroom apartments are reported to be sold. There are also some three bedroom apartments.

Most of the 2 bedroom apartments range in size from 85 sqm to about 92 sqm internal, plus a balcony. The pricing for 2 bedroom range from $660,000 to mid $700,000s.

The site is located on or adjacent to the Albion railway station.

I would be concerned that the views from the apartments could be built out. The current aspect is not attractive -- the views are of or over warehouses, a pub car park and an adult shop. The area is mostly light industrial.

The most common two bedroom design is called a 2F. It is 92 sqm internal, with a 15 sqm balcony. It is a good size overall, and the rooms all are a good size too. The front door of the apartment opens into an open "mud room". There are glass sliding doors from the "mud room" to the dining room. There is no separate kitchen -- a wall kitchen is located on the side of the dining room. The second bedroom is an "internal" room -- it has a high window onto the hallway and a window into a "mud room". The apartment has showers but no bath. I was offered one of these apartments, on a low floor looking east, for $685,000 (or about $6400 a sqm).

The Mill