This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CHARTER Hall has paid more than $27 million for the Mornington Bunnings warehouse on South Arm Highway in Hobart’s north-east, in an off-market sale and leaseback deal, netting the hardware giant a $23 million capital gain in just three years.
Charter Hall bought the store in December 2017 for $27.25 million and has completed the transaction.
Located 7km north west of Hobart’s CBD, the 4.3ha site has a gross lettable area of 13,328 sqm, with a main warehouse of 7,600 sqm as well as a timber and trade yard, a bagged goods and outdoor nursery component, and 296 parking spaces.
It was sold with a leaseback to Bunnings, on a 12-year initial lease term with eight options of six years each.
The property sold with a return of $1.542 million excluding GST, with annual increases of 2.5%.
The store opened at the end of 2016, replacing the smaller format Bunnings Rosny Park store. Bunnings completed its purchase of the Mornington property in early 2014 for $4.026 million.
As part of the agreement, Bunnings has a right to buy back the property in year 48 of the lease at market value.
Charter Hall acquired a portfolio of Bunning stores in former Masters sites in October last year for $187 million from private group home Consortium, to be places in its unlisted wholesale fund Long WALE Hardware Partnership.
The major property player then launched its new Direct Diversified Consumer Staples Fund, aiming to take advantage of everyday goods tenants able to weather tougher economic times, seeding it with the Burnie Bunnings in Tasmania that that it acquired for $21 million in September at a 6.1% yield as a seed asset for the fund.
The 12,254 sqm building is on a 3.04-hectare site and has a 12-year lease to Bunnings.
Just weeks later, Bunnings offloaded a portfolio of warehouses across Australia and New Zealand to CBRE Global Investors in a $180 million sale-and-leaseback at a near-5% yield.
Charter Hall’s recent activity in Tasmania extended to Charter Hall Retail REIT selling off three supermarkets in the state’s north for a combined $26.7 million, including Woolworths supermarkets in Smithton and Wynyard, and the Coles in Newstead.
Australian Property Journal
