This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
RETAIL property developer Lascorp Development Group has snapped up a portfolio of Shepparton CBD retail properties for an undisclosed sum.
The portfolio comprises a ‘Super Kmart’ leased to Kmart and Coles until July 2015, along with 16,766 sqm of additional zoned retail land. The property has a passing net income of $1,741,000.
CBRE’s Victorian retail Investments team of Mark Wizel and Justin Dowers handled the sale on behalf receivers and managers Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins of Ernst & Young.
Wizel said the campaign generated strong interest from institutions, syndicators, and private investors from both Melbourne and Shepparton.
“The fundamentals of the property are strong, as Coles and Kmart are both trading above what would be considered average for regionally located supermarkets and discount department stores and this underlying element of the offering is what attracted strong competition from the market,” he added.
Lascorp Development Group, headed by founder Michael Lasky, has been involved in supermarket based retail development for 40 years.
Lasky said the combined portfolio occupies 3.85 ha of mainly retail zoned land in the heart of the Shepparton CBD and represented an outstanding opportunity to undertake a major refurbishment of the precinct.
“The plans include a major upgrade of the Super Kmart building, redevelopment of approximately 330 car spaces, adding shade structures, the addition of new tenancies within the former IGA shopping centre and council redevelopment of Vaughan and Maude Streets. It is intended that some surplus land will also be released for retail, showroom and medium density residential development,” Lasky said.
Dowers said the sale highlighted continued demand for retail investment property in Victoria.
“We are seeing strong levels of demand for value-add retail investment property in Victoria, as private developers are shifting away from ‘greenfield opportunities,” he added.
“We believe that the Victorian retail investment market continues to outperform its rival states purely because of the continued supply and demand imbalance which has been the case for over 15 years now.
“In 2012, only three neighbourhood or sub regional shopping centres were offered to the market in Victoria, with other states reporting almost seven times the volume offered year to date,” Wizel said.
The property is one of only two shopping centre assets to have been sold under instruction from a receiver in Victoria since 2010, the other being Ardeer Shopping Centre in Sunshine West.
Property Review
