Fund manager Argus Property Partners has sold the Metro Market shopping centre in Biggera Waters on the Gold Coast for about $39.4 million.
The property comprised a two-level mixed-use neighbourhood retail centre with 6,967 sqm of gross lettable area.
The complex offered a 1,490 sqm Drakes Supermarket, 33 specialty tenancies and a 2,500 sqm office component on a 10,980 sqm site, with a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of around 3 years.
Argus sold the centre to an undisclosed Melbourne-based private investor, having held onto it in a managed fund since 2015.
Savills’ Jon Tyson, who negotiated the off-market transaction, said they were seeing robust ongoing demand for the neighbourhood centre asset class.
“The sale of Metro Market illustrates the wider demand for retail assets from all investor groups including private investors, property syndicates and fund managers” Tyson said.
Savills said the strong fundamentals of southeast Queensland, including population growth for the City of Gold Coast, continued to drive increasing retail demand, which in turn had attracted established and new capital for retail assets.
Major retail transactions on the Gold Coast including IJ Capital’s sale of Benowa Gardens for $60.5 million this week, and AMP Capital Retail Trust’s purchase of the remaining 20% stake of Pacific Fair for $336.4 million last December.
Greenpool Capital and Qualitas took over the Runaway Bay Centre after buying the remaining 50% interest from Vicinity Centres for $132 million last November, while Vicinity Centres bought a 50% stake in the Harbour Town outlet centre from a Lendlease-managed fund for $358 million last October.
Beyond the Gold Coast, an EG fund bought a half stake in the Grand Plaza shopping centre in Brisbane from Invesco this week, while a private investor bought the Woolworths-anchored Fernvale Village shopping centre, located an hour west of Brisbane, for $35.55 million earlier this month.
Last week, the Woolworths Group sold the Sapphire Marketplace shopping centre in Bega, New South Wales for $54.05 million, as the HomeCo Daily Needs REIT bought a Dan Murphy’s-anchored retail property in Geelong, Victoria for $21.5 million.
Interested in the retail property market? Take a look back at Australia’s biggest single retail sales in 2021.
