A foreign investor is interested in buying a hotel on Northbourne Avenue, after ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr spruiked land along Canberra's light rail route to international investors during his recent trip to Asia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Barr led a delegation to Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea last month, an 11-day trip that cost around $36,000.
While at least one Canberra farmer struck up a trade deal as a result of the trip, Mr Barr said he also held property investment showcases in Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul, where the Braddon and Turner on Northbourne project was promoted.
They are the last of the ageing public housing flats in the Northbourne precinct to be knocked down and put on the market to take advantage of the federal government's asset recycling bonus, and fund the light rail project.
Mr Barr said the government was committed to developing a "diverse and vibrant Canberra with a distinctive urban identity".
"There is a clear opportunity for international investment in development opportunities," Mr Barr told the ACT Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
"As an immediate consequence of the delegation, a Singapore-based investment group has already visited Canberra to look at investment opportunities, and a Hong Kong investor has contacted an ACT commercial agent with a view to purchasing a Canberra hotel currently listed for sale."
That hotel is the Novotel on Northbourne Avenue, which was put up for sale in July by AccorInvest via the JLL hotels and hospitality group.
It's part of a portfolio that includes 23 real estate assets and lease interests located across Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Perth, together with several major regional cities.
The portfolio could be snapped up whole or picked off individually.
It's not known who the Hong Kong investor is but Hong Kong developer JW Land, also known as SHL, bought the 25,000 square-metre Lyneham on Northbourne site for $45 million in March last year. That was another former public housing block, sold off under the asset recycling initiative.
Mr Barr also gave local renewable energy businesses a plug when he met with South Korea's Australian Ambassador on the trip.
The South Korean government is looking to raise the use of renewable energy from two per cent to 20 per cent by 2030.
Mr Barr's spokeswoman said the Chief Minister addressed a breakfast themed on renewable energy and detailed how Canberra would reach 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020.
"Forward international engagements with South Korea will include renewable energy trade connections," she said.
