$120m: Geelong shopping centre triples space, quintuples price

Leopold’s Gateway Plaza shopping centre is expected to attract buyer interest around $120 million after it went on the market.

A year after completing an $85 million expansion, the owners of the shopping complex managed by Vicinity Centres are seeking to cash in on the expansion.

Vicinity Centres, which has a portfolio that includes Corio Central, the network of DFO shopping centres and Melbourne’s giant Chadstone complex, also manages the wholesale fund that acquired the Bellarine Peninsula complex in 2014.

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The 33,510sqm sub-regional shopping centre anchored by Coles, Kmart, Aldi and Bunnings, with 42 specialty stores, has been listed with Colliers International head of retail investment services Lachlan MacGillivray.

Anchor tenants at Gateway Plaza include Kmart, Coles and Aldi.

The owners are banking a net operating income of about $7.65 million a year after the expansion of the Bellarine Highway centre, which tripled the amount of retail floorspace.

Industry sources say the property was worth around $120 million on the market today.

The centre last sold for $26 million in 2014 when CFS Retail Property Trust Group bought the property privately.

Leopold’s Gateway Plaza occupies an 8.6ha site at the gateway to the Bellarine Peninsula.

The listing of the 8.6ha property comes after Coles sold its Torquay Village centre to Toorak-based investor David Feldman for $35 million this year.

But the asking price for the Leopold centre will be significantly higher, given it is five times larger than the Torquay centre.

MacGillivray stated in marketing material that Gateway Plaza was a “super prime, modern sub-regional shopping centre which dominates an exciting high growth region on the Bellarine Peninsula”.

The centre hosts the Bellarine Peninsula’s only Bunnings Warehouse.

He said the “highly destinational” tenancy mix offered secure income growth and a major point of difference within its catchment, which includes the eastern suburbs and Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula.

Vicinity Centres states Gateway Plaza has a trading area of more than 70,000 residents.

The centre should attract interest from Australian and overseas interest as the region’s strong population growth pushes up potential returns for investors.

Gateway Plaza, Leopold has 42 specialty stores, including retail and food outlets.

CBRE national director for retail investment properties, Mark Wizel, told the Advertiser in February that Geelong’s population growth was giving Asian and institutional investors confidence that the region would provide capital growth in the future.

Geelong’s population is increasing at 3.2% a year with the number of residents expected to grow 32 per cent to 325,779 by 2036.

The Bellarine Peninsula population is expected to balloon 63% over the same period.

Expressions of interest close on April 12.

This article from the Geelong Advertiser first appeared as “Leopold’s Gateway Plaza Shopping Centre for sale after expansion”.