Buying business premises

The Brief

In 2006, Hugh was engaged in a long term project to source a commercial property on behalf of Doncaster BMW’s car dealership.

This exclusive brand needed to expand and relocate from their Fairfield site, but still maintain their Northern Suburbs customer base.

Hugh’s brief was to locate and purchase a site of at least 10,000m2 for Doncaster BMW to build a multi storey, multi-million dollar facility, including showroom, workshop facility, pre-delivery centre, car storage and panel shop.

The criteria were tightly defined: the site had to be within the dealership’s territory, be zoned appropriately and enable future expansion.

Most importantly, an ultra modern building would need to be constructed in accordance with BMW’s strict Corporate Identity and local town planning requirements.

The Strategy

The strategy and process to find the perfect site involved extensive interviews with all stakeholders and inspecting many potential sites. With such strict criteria and a scarcity of large properties available to demolish and rebuild, Hugh needed to think outside the square. As Melbourne’s urban sprawl continues to evolve, so too does its demographics. This means that many ‘middle suburbs’ are now attracting middle class families who enjoy luxury cars.

With this change in demographics in mind, Hugh approached MAB Corporation’s new development in Bundoora, University Hill. University Hill is the largest mixed use development in Australia and included a total development value in excess of one billion dollars. Its location on the Metropolitan Ring Road would allow easy access to BMW’s existing client base in addition to the airport and country clients.

The Execution

After much negotiation and due diligence by Hugh, the site was purchased and Doncaster BMW began building their newest and most innovative car dealership.

On 23 April 2009, the dealership was officially launched with extravagant celebrations. On display to over 300 guests was the past, present and future of Doncaster BMW.

The Result

The end result… a fantastic new showroom that elevates Doncaster’s extremely high service levels, even higher industry car sales, service, airport drop-off and even a helipad for customers in a real hurry!