This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
MIRVAC has offloaded Stanhope Village in Sydney’s north west to investor Revelop for $158 million, some $4 million above book value, reaffirming the bifurcation between prime and secondary retail assets.
Developed and held by Mirvac for nearly 20 years, the sub-regional centre is anchored by Coles, Aldi, Kmart and supported over 80 specialty stores with a gross lettable area of 18,063 sqm, and situated on 5.33 hectares of land.
The centre is ranked seventh in the Shopping Centre News mini-guns, with a reported turnover of $171 million and at a rate $9,467 per sqm.
Revelop co-founder Charbel Hazzouri said Stanhope Village is a “true retail unicorn”.
“The tenancy mix, convenience and location ensure this asset will continue to serve the community and provide for its occupants for years to come.
Predominantly non-discretionary retailers, Stanhope has proved its relevance and importance to the local community and continues to outperform all benchmarks.”
Anthony El-Hazouri, co-founder of Revelop said Stanhope Village represents a key acquisition in Revelop’s ongoing retail strategy across NSW, South Australia and Victoria.
“The centre embodies unique attributes such as the convenience of a neighbourhood centre but the amenity of a sub-regional centre. Its location in the northwest growth corridor aligns with our key greenfield retail sites across the Northwest and Sydney metro basin.”
One hundred per cent interests in prime metropolitan sub-regional assets are rarely traded. Stanhope Village reflects only the sixth freehold metropolitan Sydney sub-regional of scale to have sold in the last decade.
Sub-regional total transaction volumes came in at $2.7 billion for 2022, 74% above the five-year average and just shy of 2021’s record-breaking transaction volumes, according to JLL. They broadly outpaced the wider retail sector, which saw deals fall 40% year-on-year in 2022, according to MSCI, to $12.7 billion.
Stanhope Village was sold off-market through JLL’s Nick Willis and Sam Hatcher.
“Assets like this continue to attract a strong weight of capital in the current environment given their strong trading performance and investment fundamentals, including long-term mixed-use development opportunities,” Willis said.
He said there is an elevated weight of capital from both local and offshore investors looking to deploy into the Australian retail market given the value it represents in comparison to other sub-sectors, but investors remain “very discerning on asset and geography selection”.
Stockland sells
Meanwhile, Mirvac’s ASX-listed rival Stockland has also found a buyer for a sub-regional shopping centre, offloading Stockland Gladstone in Queensland for $139 million to Melbourne-based fund manager Fawkner Property, on a yield of 7.4%.
The shopping centre’s book value was last year recorded at $143.6 million.
It is anchored by Woolworths and Coles supermarkets, and discount department chains Kmart and Big W.
