Major transaction for western suburbs shopping centre
A prominent shopping centre operator has purchased a 50 per cent stake in one of Adelaide’s biggest malls for nearly $175 million.
The Scentre Group, which owns and operates 42 Westfield destinations globally, has jointly purchased a half stake in West Lakes Westfield for $174.75 million alongside investment banking firm Barrenjoey.
The acquisition comes three months after the pair purchased a 50 per cent stake in Westfield Tea Tree Plaza and Tea Tree Plus for $308 million.
Commercial real estate agency CBRE negotiated both deals, with head of retail capital markets, Pacific, Simon Rooney saying the West Lakes transaction “demonstrates the resurging investor interest in larger regional shopping centres”.
“These centres have already rebased their income back to sustainable levels and are now positioned for growth,” he said.
“Ahead of Scentre Group exercising its pre-emptive right, the Westfield West Lakes opportunity garnered strong domestic and offshore investor interest.
“This was underpinned by the opportunity to acquire a stake in a dominant, strong performing regional shopping centre in Adelaide’s affluent northern suburbs.
“We’ve seen $1.1 billion in high-quality regional retail assets recently change hands, including 50 per cent stakes in Westfield Tea Tree, Lakeside Joondalup and Claremont Quarter, with a further $1.3 billion in deals currently in play.”
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According to Scentre Group, Westfield West Lakes records $471 million of annual retail sales across its 227 retailers, including David Jones, Woolworths, Coles, Kmart and Target.
The site welcomes 6.6 million customers each year, on a 71,516 square metre gross lettable area.
“The centre offers genuine value-add potential and robust investment fundamentals, with potential buyers attracted by the quality of the asset and the long-term growth potential,” Rooney said.
The group’s Westfield Tea Tree Plaza stake acquisition in June marked South Australia’s largest regional shopping centre transaction since 2019, when Paragon REIT and MA Financial acquired a 50 per cent stake in Westfield Marion for $670 million.
