Lewis Land to check out of discount retail in Adelaide

The private Lewis Land Group is continuing its sell down of assets in the hot discount retail market, putting the Harbour Town Premium Outlets in Adelaide on the block for more than $180m.

The sector is one of the most resilient during softer economic periods and has been chased by investors, including the listed Vicinity Centres, which has built up holdings in the area.

CBRE’s Simon Rooney is handling the sale and said the centre was one of Adelaide’s best performing retail assets.

The open-air property sits on a 97,500sq m land holding, on the western boundary of Adelaide Airport.

“Harbour Town Adelaide is one of just 17 outlet centres across the country, with only 11 major, comparable transactions having occurred in the past decade,” Mr Rooney said.

“The sale provides an opportunity for investors to gain immediate scale in the highly sought after but rarely traded outlet shopping sub-sector, which benefits from greater trading resilience during downturns and continues to demonstrate outperformance given its discount-based offering,” he said.

Harbour Town Premium Outlets in Adelaide is being sold by the Lewis Land Group.

Developed by Lewis Land in 2004, the Adelaide centre houses 118 outlet stores, including the largest Nike Unite and Tommy Hilfiger outlets in Australia. Other retailers in the 28,544sq m centre include Polo Ralph Lauren, Coach and Calvin Klein.

The centre has parking for 1480 vehicles and recently underwent a $20m upgrade.

Lewis Land co-owns the Harbour Town Premium Outlets Gold Coast, which saw the last major sales action. In 2021, Vicinity Centres snapped up a 50 per cent interest, which was offloaded by the Lendlease-managed Australian Prime Property Fund Retail for $358m.

Mr Rooney noted the attractive tenant profile, which he said was underpinned by strong trading specialty tenants who were generating specialty productivity of $10,014 a sq m on highly sustainable rent.

Lewis Land Group confirmed it was exploring commercial options for the possible sale of the Adelaide property. It said the move came after significant appreciation in the value of its retail assets as a proportion of its overall portfolio and would allow for a rebalancing.

Lewis Land chief executive Matthew McCarron said that the developer’s portfolio was always evolving. “Our priority as a family-owned business is to continuously explore opportunities for growth over the long-term,” he said.

“Transactions that make economic sense are always worth considering, and we will keep our stakeholders informed as we explore commercial options for the property,” he said.