The joint venture aimed to develop and repurpose the property into a world-class aged care facility to serve the Fremantle community.
A joint venture between leading Perth-based aged care organisation, Hall & Prior, and a local superannuation fund has paid $13 million for the heritage-listed former Woodside Maternity Hospital in East Fremantle.
Savills Manager Metropolitan & Regional Sales, Barney Dear, who brokered the 18 Dalgety Street deal with Director City Sales & Investments, Chas Moore, said the joint venture aimed to develop and repurpose the property into a world-class aged care facility to serve the Fremantle community.
“This is an exceptional result for a building that has played a very important part in providing care for the Fremantle and surrounds community for nearly 100 years. The purchaser’s proposed use will continue that service to the community,” Mr Dear said.
Hall & Prior CEO, Graeme Prior, said the project would be a foundation asset for the new aged care joint venture. The development will be in addition to Hall & Prior’s current infrastructure development program set to deliver 400 beds across three facilities in Western Australia and New South Wales, worth over $160 million.
“The redevelopment of the former Woodside Hospital site will take place over a number of years, with great care to be taken to respect the rich history of this heritage-listed property while also providing contemporary residential and community-based aged care options for the local community,” Mr Prior said.
Hall & Prior is one of WA’s largest providers of care for supported and financially disadvantaged Western Australians. In WA, the company cares for almost 2,000 people across 14 residential aged care homes and two home care services, predominantly in metropolitan Perth. Nationally, Hall & Prior operates over 1,500 beds across 25 residential aged care homes in Western Australia and New South Wales, employing over 2,000 staff.
Situated on a massive 10,000 square metre site overlooking the Fremantle Port and Town Centre, Woodside House, comprising 1,979 square metres of buildings, was constructed in 1902 and is a rare example of Victorian Italianate architecture.
Mr Moore said the marketing campaign had elicited a strong response from an investment and development market looking to capitalise on Perth’s exceptional growth potential.
“Perth’s property market is currently undergoing a post-mining investment boom transition that has fortuitously opened up opportunities for astute investors and developers to take advantage of the growth that we are going to see over the next few years.
“The sort of robust level of enquiry we had for this property illustrated just how seriously the investment and development community has recognised, and in this instance, grasped that opportunity,” Mr Moore said.
The vendor was the WA Department of Health.