Oreana Group has acquired the Riverwalk town centre in Werribee in Melbourne’s west from the Victorian Government’s property developer for $12.3 million.
The property is a 3.01-hectare site within the Riverwalk estate, situated 35km from the Melbourne CBD and already home to more than 2500 residents.
Development Victoria, which sold the town centre site, has been delivering homes, infrastructure and open space throughout the Riverwalk estate since 2011.
“The acquisition of this key town centre site in Development Victoria’s Riverwalk Estate underlines Oreana’s commitment to the delivery of quality local convenience-based projects in Melbourne’s growth corridor and will strengthen our substantial development portfolio, consisting of a range of activity centres, convenience and childcare projects serving local communities,” Oreana Group’s Director of Property Paul Bourchier said.
Colliers’ Retail Investment Services Director Mike Crittenden, who negotiated the sale with fellow director Tim McIntosh, said they experienced unprecedented enquiry on the Riverwalk town centre campaign from local, interstate and offshore developers, syndicators and owner occupiers.
“Development interest has been driven by the ongoing strong demand by passive investors for shopping centre assets where supply remains extremely constrained,” Crittenden said.
“Metropolitan Melbourne shopping centres and sites remain at the top of investors and developers wish list.”
McIntosh said town centres remained one of the most highly sought-after and best-in-class sub-sectors of commercial property, representing a defensive investment with attractive income growth for investors due to the heavily weighted income to non-discretionary national retailers.
“We have transacted over $200 million of town centre assets in Victoria to institutional and private investors and retail developers in the last 12 months and see strong demand continuing for those centres with a resilient income profile,” McIntosh said.
Last month, Stockland bought a 26ha site near Geelong in Victoria with plans for a land lease community, while MAB Corporation acquired a 32.57ha industrial site in Melbourne’s southeast with plans to develop the site into a $400 million industrial and logistics development.
In December last year, National Pacific Properties sold a town centre development site in Clyde in Victoria to an interstate developer for $67.65 million.
