This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
IN a $33.75 million purchase, Primewest has acquired a shopping centre and adjoining vacant site in Byford, on the south-eastern edge of Perth.
The three-year-old Coles-anchored Byford Village Shopping Centre, located at 20 Abernethy Road, is comprised of 11 specialty stores including a Priceline Pharmacy and The Coffee Club, as well as a children’s playground and 360 vehicle car park.
The Centuria Capital Group subsidiary secured the sites for its pure-play daily needs retail trust, Matrix Trust. Primewest was absorbed by the listed group back in July of this year, bringing their combined platform of Funds Under Management to $17.4 billion.
“We are very familiar with the Byford community and opportunities the growing southeast Perth region provides,” said Bruce McCully, head of retail and general manager at Primewest WA.
The shopping centre was secured on a sale-and-leaseback agreement, with the vacant site bringing further development opportunity to the Matrix Trust.
With Primewest previously holding the site for a decade before offloading the property to the Coles Group.
“Primewest has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the Coles Group and we are very pleased we could arrange this sale-and-leaseback agreement, which is mutually beneficial to both parties,” added McCully.
Opening in 2017, the shipping centre has emerged as the primary retail offering in the Byford catchment, with the area seeing significant levels of growth in recent times, which is likely to continue, aided by the upcoming Byford railway extension.
Recent figures from The Data App revealed $854.2 million in shopping centre deals were recorded over the three months to July this year, refelcting a massive 230% year-on-year increase in transaction volumes.
While back in April, neighbourhood centres with supermarkets as anchor tenants were reported as the strongest performing and most resilient asset type.
20 Abernethy Road will be adding to Matrix Trusts $254 million portfolio, which across five assets has a WALE of 9.4 years.
Primewest’s overall daily needs retail portfolio is currently valued at $1.3 billion, with its large format retail portfolio also at $1.3 billion.
