This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
QUEENSLAND government-backed QIC has put another blockbuster retail asset on the block, with Woodgrove Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s growing outer west up for sale with expectations of half a billion dollars.
The regional mall has over 60,000 sqm of lettable area and produces over $500 million in tenant sales per annum. The centre is anchored by Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Kmart, Big W, Harris Scarfe, Dan Murphy’s, and Reading Cinemas, and supported by some 160 specialties and kiosks.
Included in the offer are the separately-titled Woolworths-anchored neighbourhood shopping centre known as Coburns Central, an additional medical centre leased to Westcare, and a three-hectare development site.
JLL’s Sam Hatcher and Nick Willis, and Lachlan MacGillivray at Colliers are marketing the asset.
“Opportunities to acquire dominant regional shopping centres in core metropolitan locations are seldom formally offered to market. The sale of Woodgrove Shopping Centre will represent the second only opportunity in Melbourne to acquire a 100% interest in a regional shopping centre in the last 15 years. All other offerings have either been off-market or partial interest without management,” Hatcher said.
Since 2000 there has been only one transaction involving a regional shopping centre in Victoria valued at over $350 million for a 100% ownership stake.
“The Australian retail sector is experiencing a renaissance with global capital and increasingly investors are seeking exposure to assets that are dominant in performance and provide future value add opportunities,” Willis said.
The Woodgrove offering spans over 27 hectares of land.
The offering comes shortly after Scentre Group backed out of developing a Westfield shopping centre 14 kilometres away at Mount Atkinson.
Lachlan MacGillivray said strong population growth, combined with some of the lowest retail floorspace-to-population ratios globally, is driving robust asset performance and renewed investor interest in the sector.
“In Melbourne’s west, retail floorspace per capita is projected to drop to more than double the current national undersupplied average.
Woodgroce is in the City of Melton, which the Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded as the fourth-fastest growing municipality.
“A dominant asset like Woodgrove Shopping Centre presents a significant opportunity to capture a captive trade area and offers multiple options to enhance the site’s use over time.”
QIC selldown continues
QIC has just offloaded its half-share in Perth’s Claremont Quarter in a $207 million deal with co-owner, commercial property company Hawaiian. Meanwhile, News Corp has reported QIC is in talks with Haben and US group Hines to sell the gargantuan Blacktown mall Westpoint Shopping Centre for around $900 million.
The retail sector has seen a rush of major mall transactions after downwards revaluations settled and expectations between buyers and sellers closed.
The newer deals have seen JY Group’s $195 million acquisition of a half-stake in Westfield Whitford City from Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, Scentre Group and Barrenjoey confirming their $174.75 million purchase of a half-stake in Adelaide’s Westfield West Lakes on the back of their buy of a 50% interest in Westfield Tea Tree Plaza for $308 million, while Vicinity Centres nabbed a 50% stake in Lakeside Joondalup.
