Getting to Baycrown Property Group
- As one of the LFRA’s newest Associate Members, who is Baycrown Property Group?
Baycrown Property Group is a family-owned Real Estate Investment and Development business.
Started by Tom Van Asperen, we have been operating for over 25 years. Aside from being a developer of residential land estates mainly in South East Queensland and Victoria, we own and operate various homemaker centres under the Home Focus brand and a retail centre in the Melbourne CBD.
We also have standalone Large Format Retail assets in Cairns, Shepparton, and Lismore.
Baycrown is currently developing a masterplanned Homemaker and Lifestyle centre at the rapidly growing northern end of the Gold Coast.
Upon completion Home Focus Pimpama will be one of the biggest Large Format Retail precincts in Queensland. Baycrown is also in the process of planning a Home Focus-style project in Melton, Victoria.
- Can you tell us a little bit about your homemaker centres?
Pimpama Home Focus is the first of Baycrown Property Group’s rollout of Large Format Retail developments, having previously only purchased existing centres.
As of right now, it includes a Bunnings, BP Service Station and Guzman Y Gomez. A health and wellbeing hub will open in December 2021 and will include a gym, physio, medical centre, and Chemist Warehouse.
Following that, the first of the Large Format Retailers will be welcomed to the centre with construction about to start on an 8,000m2 building to include the likes of Officeworks, RSEA and Petbarn.
Upon completion the centre will provide 50,000 m2+ of lettable area.
Carseldine Home Focus (known previously as Carseldine Homemaker Centre) was purchased in 2009. This Brisbane centre is 14,500m2 and tenants include JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Supercheap Auto and Beacon Lighting.
In south-west Sydney, Bankstown Home Focus is 18,000 m2 and tenants include Autobarn and RSEA Safety.
Baycrown also owned The Zone Underwood prior to selling it to Clarence Property in 2017.
- Home Focus Bankstown was included in the first LFRA Directory. Can you share with us its rich history?
We think it’s a great fact that our Bankstown centre was included in the first LFRA Directory!
Older locals refer to it as ‘Dunlop Corner’, as it was previously the site of a Dunlop Factory, or ‘Christies’ from when it was Christie’s Homemaker Centre – purportedly the first homemaker retail centre in Australia.
Baycrown purchased the centre in 2010 from GPT.
- How can LFRA Members collaborate with Baycrown?
We have a small but mighty team here at Baycrown, and we hope that means we are also very approachable!
Due to our size, we are constantly seeking inspiration, expertise, and referrals from external sources.
We look forward to connecting with the LFRA community and learning as much as we can about the members. We see lots of potential synergies and keep our eyes open to opportunities.
Baycrown likes to keep roofs over heads (being in the land and residential development arena) and beds under those roofs, so we are always interested in how to best achieve these things – being committed to understanding our retailers’ requirements.
- And finally, what can we expect from Baycrown Property Group in coming months?
We cannot understate how excited we are about Pimpama!
We expect the next stage to be open in time for the Christmas break… which is a great gift! Better than socks.
Simultaneously, we are focussed on delivering varying stages of our land subdivisions in Queensland and Victoria.
In the coming months, we will continue to push forward with improving our business, developments, centres and cementing strong relationships.
We hope that once restrictions are eased, the LFRA members can come visit us at our office in Arundel, Queensland, because we think it is pretty special – and hope you will too!
