Chadstone co-owner Vicinity flags $3bn in projects as towers rise above malls

The listed co-owner of Chadstone Shopping Centre has flagged a series of redevelopments around the country that could include office towers, apartments and retail expansions worth close to $3bn.

Vicinity Centres, which owns the Melbourne mall with billionaire John Gandel, plans to ramp up development as it cashes in on the switch to suburban living.

Chadstone has become a town centre with offices, hotels and entertainment precincts which is being used as a model for the landlord’s other centres.

Vicinity chief investment officer Carolyn Viney said work was already getting under way both at the famed Melbourne centre and other retail properties around the country, with the company also working on plans for build-to-rent apartments.

The company has a $2.9bn development pipeline and it expects to spend $200m-$250m this financial year and a $300m-$400m annually in coming years. About 84 per cent of the pipeline is associated with six assets.

In Melbourne, it will focus on Chadstone, Victoria Gardens and Box Hill Central. In Sydney, Chatswood Chase and Bankstown Central will be redeveloped, and in Brisbane it will overhaul Buranda Village. The development opportunities comprise retail, office and build-to-rent, with the main projects to be suburban office complexes. Larger retail projects are lined up at Chadstone and Chatswood Chase.

Ms Viney said the company owned tracts of land in suburban Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane which were being activated by government policy settings and the way that people were living in the wake of the pandemic.

“In some ways, what we’re seeing at Chadstone is simply a prototype, albeit a world-class prototype, for what we are intending to do across a number of those other strategically important assets,” Ms Viney said.

At Chadstone the company will aim to spend $130m on a new fresh food and dining precinct, along with $75m on a new office. At Victoria Gardens it will spend $140m-$150m on retail and residential. At Box Hill Central it will spend $300m-$315m on a residential tower along with $450m-$470m on an office.

Chatswood Chase is slated for a major redevelopment and at Bankstown Central there are plans for new offices. In Brisbane, at Buranda Village, there are plans to spend up to $450m on a retail and residential precinct and $310m on an office development.

Chadstone is still growing. It is getting a dining and entertainment terrace with six new entertainment and food tenancies.

The company said “significantly more” opportunity existed beyond the six priority assets, with a total of 12 retail centres having been master planned.

At the Chadstone Place commercial redevelopment, Officeworks has been secured on a long-term lease. It is in talks to find tenants for the larger One Middle Road Office tower. At Victoria Gardens, apartments are planned with build-to-rent preferred.

This article was first published on www.theaustralian.com.au.