Guyra’s biggest employer Costa Group have welcomed the news their 20-hectare tomato glasshouse facility in Elm Street has been snapped up for a cool $80m by a property investment fund.
Property funds house Centuria Capital has purchased the glasshouse as rural assets hold up in the face of rising interest rates. Investors are chasing rural property even as other areas of commercial property come under pressure with office and industrial values being reset. Centuria will put the glasshouse into its unlisted Centuria Agriculture Fund.
The deal marked the Centruria fund‘s third off-market glasshouse acquisition taking the total size of its glasshouses under management to about 74-hectares under-glass, worth $323m.
Costa’s State Manager NSW Vertical Farming, Scot MacDonald, says they welcome the news of the glasshouse sale.
“The Costa team in Guyra are excited by this development.”
“The Costa Group have committed to a new 15 year lease for the original Elm Street site.”
In addition to the glasshouse, the Elm Street site includes a one-acre nursery, 65 megalitre dam, packing and distribution sheds and cool rooms.
“With a new property owner, there is now an opportunity to review our capital works program to lock in productivity and sustainability.”
“Costas will continue to be a major economic driver and job creator in the region.”
Guyra provides a unique microclimate with high sunlight levels in winter and cool summers, making it perfect for glasshouse production. The Cost Group company Tomato Exchange produces 12,800 tonnes of tomatoes each year, supplying Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Costco and Harris Farms. The Costa Group own the second, newer site north of Guyra outright.
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