This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AN ex-Masters Home Improvement site that has been vacant since 2016 – and which is one of the few in the country not owned by HMC Capital – in Melbourne’s satellite suburb of Sunbury has hit the market.
The 3 Deveny Road site spans 13,645 sqm of lettable area and is on 3.631 hectares of land. It is being billed as an investment with strong future repositioning potential by agents Stonebridge Property Group, and is fully leased to Home Investments Consortium Company Pty Ltd.
Constructed in 2014 – two years before Masters collapsed and HMC Capital took on most of its empty warehouses – the property is fully leased with a 9.5-year weighted average lease expiry and annual increases, with the income stream guaranteed by an ASX-listed company.
Stonebridge’s Justin Dowers and Kevin Tong have the listing on behalf of a private investor. Expressions of interest closing 28th November.
Stonebridge told Australian Property Journal that expectations are of $40 million-plus.
“This is a high quality and highly unique asset. An incoming purchaser will benefit from a 20-year net lease to a strong covenant (10 years remaining) plus future potential to reconfigure the property as a dominant large-format retail (LFR) centre,” Dowers said.
“An opportunity like this is exceptionally rare, with almost every ex-Masters in the country being owned by HMC Capital, leaving just a handful privately owned.”
A push from Sunbury state Labor MP Josh Bull in recent years for the site to be turned into a sporting precinct gained popularity amongst local sports clubs, and local media has also reported enthusiasm for the concept from nearby residents.
LFR has performed strongly since the pandemic, as shoppers enjoyed the bigger spaces of showrooms and spent up on homewares, furniture and electronics while locked down and working from home, and trade has more recently been driven by population growth.
The property has key exposure to Vineyard Road, the main road into Sunbury, which sees some four million vehicles pass annually.
Tong said Sunbury is highly underserviced by dedicated large format retail centres with just one centre in the catchment providing a lettable area of 5,500 sqm.
“This leaves a substantial market gap with many national LFR tenants not having a store in the catchment.”
Sunbury’s fast-growing population is expected to increase by more than 4% each year, equating to an additional 66,186 residents in the catchment by 2046.
Commercial real estate investor Whitmore Property last month unveiled new LFR fund that is targeting $150 million in assets tenanted by household brands including Supercheap Auto, The Good Guys and Subway.
Elsewhere in Victoria, HMC Capital’s spin-off HomeCo Daily Needs REIT recently offloaded the HomeCo Ballarat large format complex for $54 million.
