HEARD THIS WEEK👂

💰️ $33 million Crows Nest block to be converted to high-rise “retirement lifestyle” village

A prime row of Crows Nest shops has been bought by aged care provider Moran Group, which plans to redevelop the site into high-rise housing for retirees.

What happened: The 891-square-metre row of shops on Falcon Street was sold earlier this month for $32.6m in a private treaty sale that attracted offers from several property developers.

Moran Group told the Lorikeet it is looking to redevelop the block into a “retirement lifestyle” property.

The sale comes with a previously approved application to lodge redevelopment as a State Significant Development, which means any project could be fast tracked, and potentially receive leeway regarding height restrictions.

How big? The current height limit of the site is 50 metres, equating to around 14 storeys. Height concession granted by the state in exchange for affordable housing could bump this up by around three to five storeys.

Nick Lowry, the real estate agent who brokered the sale, said it was likely Moran Group would maintain retail shopfronts on the ground floor while building aged-care housing on top. Moran Group, however, declined to comment on this “until the designs and plans are further developed”.

The ground floor retail spaces are tenanted by the likes of restaurants Sumibi Yakiniku and Lola Cocina, a masseuse, martial arts studio and health food store.

The owner of Lola Cocina, Ashok Chand, told the Lorikeet he intended to keep his business in the Crows Nest area, preferably at the same location. He said many of the retail shops had only recently signed new leases, his own extending to 2031.

Read the full piece here, or watch our video explainer below.

🍺 The Oaks sells for $140 million

The Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay has sold for around $140 million, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review.

The longstanding watering hole on Military Road was built in the late 1800s, and is home to the John Meillon Bar, named after the famous Australian actor.

The pub was last sold in 1990 to David Thomas for $12 million. Thomas ran the pub for over 50 years. The new owner is Gallagher Hotels, which also owns and operates the Hunters Hill Hotel and Jacksons on George in the CBD.

Read the story below.

🖥️ What’s actually inside a data centre?

Here’s a fun one: late last week, a local data centre allowed me to wander it’s data halls and get an idea of what these facilities look like beyond the big, blocky exteriors.

It’s nothing you wouldn’t expect — a lot of wires, computers, power — but it is very rare for these places to let people see the inside, let alone take footage.

Watch below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

🌾 What Aussie farmers are doing to keep afloat as Iran war sends fertiliser prices to the moon

Iran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has halted around 20 percent of the world's oil, but the flow-on effects are hitting Australian farmers in another way entirely: through urea, the nitrogen fertiliser used in winter pasture growth and grain production.

What happened: The closure has disrupted global urea supply at a time when Australian farmers are approaching the colder months and preparing to fertilise paddocks. Australia imports 64 percent of its urea from the Persian Gulf, leaving the industry heavily exposed to the disruption.

The costs: "The price has gone up from $800 to $1,250 a tonne," the Gippsland Monitor’s Jacob Wallace said during a recent podcast with the National Account.

Local impact: One dairy farmer Jacob spoke to, near Leongatha, normally spends $80,000 a year on urea and has decided to skip ordering for winter entirely rather than face a bill that could double.

What they're saying: "When you're farming, you're essentially taking nutrients out of the ground no matter what you're doing, and so you have to invest in putting nutrients back," Wallace said.

Beef farmer Fergus O'Connor, of Beres Creek, told Wallace he had already moved away from urea following the Ukraine war price spike, switching to a leaf foliage spray that cut his per-acre cost from $3,500 to $400 for 25 acres.

Making it at home: A major domestic urea facility, the Perdaman Urea Project near Karratha in Western Australia, is under development. University of Sydney researchers are also exploring green hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas in production.

"If we can find a way to use renewable energy to create urea instead of gas and oil, that would be more sustainable and drive down the cost as well," Wallace said.

Watch the full interview below: