LJ Hooker Commercial Celebrates Its Longstanding Agencies

Several LJ Hooker Commercial businesses throughout Australia have celebrated lengthy anniversaries with the network during June and July this year. We spoke with those offices to find out how their markets have changed over time.

LJ Hooker Commercial Macarthur (NSW) - 19 years

LJ Hooker Commercial Macarthur has been a specialist in the South-West Sydney market for 19 years.

Darren Zammit, Aaron Ward and David Pollard opened the agency together, with Pollard retiring in 2018.

Zammit and Ward have continued to scale the business, with LJ Hooker Commercial now the sought-after, on-the-ground specialists in a marketplace underpinned by infrastructure supporting Sydney’s second international airport at Eastern Creek and population growth around Oran Park.

“We’ve grown from a team of three picking up commercial leasing appointments from our first days, to now a team of 13 overseeing 600 commercial assets totalling well over 1bn across a mixture of warehouses, neighbourhood retail centres and office space,” said Ward.

“The market has changed immensely since we arrived. Big areas of vacant land have been absorbed as the road network has extended out this way.”

Ward said retail operations had grown to reflect the increase in population, with expansions of major shopping centres including Macarthur Square, Narellan Town and Oran Park centres.

Land values had multiplied 10 times over the period, he said.

When the M5 was extended beyond Moorebank in 2003, the region was connected with dual carriageway to the CBD and Airport, encouraging businesses and investors to descend on the area.

Zammit said: “The opening of the M7 further propelled interest and the construction of the Badgerys Creek Airport and surrounding business precincts is driving the current activity”.

“When we originally started, manufacturing was predominant around the area, but that’s wound-down in line with the rest of Australia. The South-West market is now a mixture of institutional investors seeking warehouse assets for logistics and storage, through to small family business operators in service industries spanning automotive through to furniture stores and everything in between.

“We’ve been trusted advisers for business owners and investors over that time, helping them build their wealth in property via our insights, connections and on-the-ground service.”

LJ Hooker Commercial Coffs Harbour (NSW) - 15 years

Positioned midway between Sydney and Brisbane, Coffs Harbour’s industrial market has been a popular home for transport operators for several decades. The importance of efficient distribution channels came into focus across Australia during the pandemic and its demand amongst tenants and investors has remained elevated in the Coffs Harbour market.

Troy Mitchell has been in property in Coffs Harbour for three decades, operating the LJ Hooker Commercial office in the area for 15 years. They’ve been sought-out by government departments, private investors, syndicates and business owners from Nambucca Heads in the south, north to Grafton.

“The industrial market is still going gangbusters,” he said. “There’s still a large demand for warehouses in the area. Transport and logistics operators are still the main drivers of demand, along with contractors for the highway bypass.”

While Kempsey, Grafton, Ballina and other regional hubs on the North Coast have benefitted from bypasses of the Pacific Highway this century, B-Doubles have continued to make their way through Coffs Harbour’s town centre. But the town centre will be spared the congestion from 2027 under current completion estimates, when a new alignment will take traffic to the west of Coffs Harbour.

The construction program is employing 1200 people and funded to the tune of $2.2bn. Completion is planned for 2027, saving 12 minutes of travel time and avoiding 12 sets of traffic lights.

LJ Hooker Commercial Coffs Harbour is one of the region’s leading leasing agencies, helping commercial landlords and tenants navigate the marketplace. While the pandemic elevated demand for residential property in the area, which is serviced by one of the busier regional airports in NSW, bricks and mortar retail continues to face significant challenges, said Mitchell. The GFC left a longstanding economic hangover in the town centre, he said.

“One of the things that we’re looking forward to, however, is the bypass. Taking highway traffic, especially freight vehicles, away from the town centre is going to increase amenity as it has in other towns. At the moment, tenants have the bargaining power in leasing negotiations.”

LJ Hooker Commercial Coffs Harbour has been a trusted adviser for businesses and investors for the past 15 years. The local economy has diversified from tourism and transport over the period, with the Southern Cross University campus and expanded medical facilities – Coffs Harbour’s Base Hospital underwent a $194m expansion, completed early this year – bringing in new waves of professionals to the area.

“Being long-term, on-the-ground specialists provides us with expertise and connections to bring quality advice and outcomes to clients,” said Mitchell.

“We’ve always put our clients first and that’s underpinned our longevity in the market.”

LJ Hooker Commercial Bankstown (NSW) – 24 years 

The LJ Hooker Commercial Bankstown brand has been on signboards in Sydney’s South-West since 1999.

But the business’ roots extend right back the 1980s and includes some of the region’s influential property figures of the like of Max Mawhinney - who went on to found ICA Property Group, part of the former Valad Property Group; Paul McInerney and Patrick Brush who, respectively, went onto open LJ Hooker Commercial Silverwater and lead the Australian LJ Hooker Commercial network; and brothers Geoff and Paul Byrne, who took over the business in 1999 and confirmed its specialisation in industrial sales, leasing and managements for the next two decades.

Geoff’s son Tim joined in 2005 and the family trio supported landlords, sellers and tenants to make informed commercial property decisions, building their clients’ wealth and steering them through the challenge of the GFC.

In 2018, Geoff retired and ex-Colliers International South-West Sydney specialist Jon Orsborn joined as the new Director. Tim and Jon assumed full control of the business in 2022 with Paul’s retirement.

“The business has continued in different forms for 40 years, firstly operating as a joint commercial and residential agency in the 1980s, then moving into specialist commercial agency,” said Byrne.

“Apart from some larger land parcels at Bankstown Airport, Condell Park, Milperra the area has been a well-established, brownfield market, over most of that period.

“The biggest change has been the recent surge in rents on the back of Covid. For probably 15 years, industrial rents hovered between $80-$115psm and when Covid arrived, it increased to anywhere between $150psm for lower grade to $250psm for prime grade.

“During that transition, LJ Hooker Commercial Bankstown has provided every one of our clients with trusted advice and connections to the premium buyers and tenants in the market so they’ve been able to progress their property plans with clarity and success.”

Orsborn will soon mark five years in the business but he’s been specialising in Sydney’s South-West markets for 20 years.

“The biggest change infrastructure additions for the area was the M5 and the introduction of the Moorebank Intermodal,” he said.

“There’s a broad mix of clientele that we deal with on a daily basis around the area.

“Australia has seen a big rise in small business owners in the economy since 2000 and they’re driving demand for strata industrial assets; developers have competed for older sites with upside potential; and fund managers continue to seek assets with quality transport and logistics tenants.

“The clients are different in their aims and scale but they equally recognise quality service and guidance and we’ve concentrated on servicing that need.”

LJ Hooker Commercial Brisbane (QLD) - 24 years

LJ Hooker Commercial Brisbane opened in 1999 but the vision for the business began back in 1977, when Director of Sales and Leasing Kerry Armstrong opened the LJ Hooker Underwood office franchise.

Back then the business specialised in commercial real estate.

This franchise was one of four operating in Queensland at the time alongside LJ Hooker Toowong (headed by Russ Cornish), LJ Hooker Mount Gravatt (Mike Freney) and LJ Hooker Caboolture (Geoff Brown).

John Hattrick was the state manager for LJ Hooker Ltd (Queensland) at the time.

At the time, the road between the Brisbane and the Gold Coast was single lane and the office shared a photocopier with an adjoining tenant. One of our earliest property management systems was called ‘Kalamazoo’ and, while it was one of the best programs in the market, there were still many long and frustrating evenings spent balancing trust accounts at the balancing trust accounts the end of every month.

Kerry identified three corporate employees whose support has had an indelible hand in the long-running success of the business:

“Barry Ryan held the titles of Chief Property Manager, Chief Auctioneer and National Franchise Director over many years,” said Kerry. “He used to come up from Sydney and hold seminars in Queensland, bringing with him a big push for auctions. The brand was known for auctions, and we worshipped him.

“Pat Moran was state manager from 1979 to 1983 and in that time grew the franchise network from 34 to 104 offices. Pat was highly thought of by all the franchise owners, and he led the charge on auction education.

“In the time of the Bjelke-Petersen Government in Queensland, they had a ‘Minister for Everything’ by the name of Russ Hinze. For the network, our Russ Hinze was Paul Moore. Paul has capably filled many different roles and been a standout as an auctioneer and trainer.

“His influence as an educator over a long period of time has been immense. Paul’s always there to auction, teach, help and positively encourage many people in the Group.”

Over time, technology and infrastructure has transformed how the office- now led by Kerry's son Ben - services its clientele across industrial, retail and office property, development sites and business sales.

"It used to take 45 minutes to get to the Brisbane CBD, whereas now about 15minutes to the northern part of Logan City Council," said Kerry.

"I remember when blocks of land in Moss Street were $6000; you'd be hard-pressed to find a warehouse along that street now that wasn't going for $2m.”

“Now located at Springwood, LJ Hooker Commercial Brisbane services clients from the Gold Coast to Far North Queensland.

Ben said: "Technology has allowed us to follow relationships. We're no longer restricted by geography. Technology has been a great tool for us in building our business, but it's also been great for our clients who have always seen us as trusted advisers, seeking our insights, connections and knowledge to help them build their own wealth."

The team at LJ Hooker Commercial Brisbane has seen the city - particularly south of the Brisbane River - transform over their time through infrastructure including the Gateway Bridge, M1 Motorway and Logan Motorway. The additions have given life to industrial hubs through Hemmant, Murarrie and the Australian Trade Coast.

"Suburbs like Yatala, Larapinta and Berrinba were just cow paddocks when we started in business, and now they're sought after by transport and logistics operators wanting access to the Pacific Highway and Logan Motorway."

The 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games was the next milestone for the city, Ben said.

"The 1982 Commonwealth Games shone a spotlight on Brisbane and Expo (in 1988) really introduced us to the world, reimagining an ugly waterfront site opposite the CBD which has now become a recreational and cultural hub for the city.

"It's very exciting to think how Brisbane will progress in the lead-up to, and after, 2032.

"Enquiry for development sites, office, industrial tenancies is already gathering pace as investors and business owners position themselves from the economic uplift of the biggest event in the world.

"It'll be a defining moment for Brisbane."