Lendlease has sold the Craigieburn Central shopping centre in Melbourne’s northern suburbs to IP Generation for $300 million.
Lendlease’s Australian Prime Property Fund (APPF) Retail holds a 75% interest in the shopping centre, with Lendlease Group holding a 25% interest.
Craigieburn Central is located in one of Melbourne’s fastest growing regions and comprises approximately 157 specialty stores, together with a range of major retailers and entertainment offers, as well as bulky goods and commercial tenants.
Developed by Lendlease and opened in 2013, Craigieburn Central has long been a sought-after asset due to its location in a growing catchment area, mix of quality tenants and value-add potential.
Simon Rooney, CBRE’s Head of Retail Capital Markets, Pacific, negotiated the sale on behalf of the vendors.
“APPF Retail is repositioning its shopping centre portfolio of prime quality assets to take advantage of changing consumer demands and urban growth opportunities,” said Anne MacSporran, Fund Manager, APPF Retail.
“The Fund is focused on investing in and creating multi-purpose, mixed use centres, catering to multiple aspects of customers’ lives.
“By unlocking the value of surplus land surrounding our assets to deliver development opportunities, we aim to further activate our retail centres and deliver resilient, long-term performance for our investors.”
“The sale was a highly competitive pricing outcome for APPF Retail and Lendlease, simply reflective of the attractive inherent, long term and deep value fundamentals Craigieburn Central offers, valued accordingly by proactive private capital that dominates the retail investment landscape across Australia at present,” Simon Rooney, Head of Retail Capital Markets, Pacific, CBRE, said.
“The retail sector is set to benefit from migration, resilient spend in the face of already high interest rates and very low new supply in the market after a period of under-investment in the sector.”
The transaction is IP Generation’s largest individual shopping centre acquisition to date growing its assets under management to $1.5 billion.
Craigieburn Central is a dominant 64,837 sqm ‘Town Centre’ retail destination, servicing over 200,000 residents and generating approximately $378m of Moving Annual Turnover (MAT).
The centre is anchored by a triple supermarket offering of Woolworths, Coles and Aldi, in addition to Kmart, Big W and United Cinemas.
The comprehensive national major tenant profile accounts for a substantial 50% of centre Gross Lettable Area and MAT with a long-term secure Weighted Average Lease Expiry of 9.8 years.
