NRL’s Bulldogs in $50m shopping spree
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have embarked on a $50m shopping spree. Picture: Getty
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have embarked on a $50m shopping spree.
The famous Canterbury Leagues Club, which is synonymous with the NRL side and supports it to the tune of around $6m a year, are the proud new owners of a shopping centre in Newcastle Knights territory.
Rutherford Property Holdings, a special purpose vehicle associated with the Leagues Club is the new owner of Rutherford Marketplace, in the northwest of Maitland, about 35km north west of Newcastle, in the lower Hunter Valley.
The club agreed to a $49.75m deal with sellers Charter Hall Retail and the transaction is expected to settle later this month. The mall is home to Woolworths and BWS as its major tenants and 20 other retailers.
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The Bulldogs are enjoying success on the field, at last, and off it. Picture: Getty
It is part of a move from the Canterbury-based club to build on its property portfolio, in line with similar efforts from other NRL clubs as they continue to move away from their traditional reliance upon poker machine revenue.
The Daily Telegraph reported, Canterbury Leagues Club holds over $16 million in other investment property assets, with both residential and commercial holdings in Lakemba, Belmore and Liverpool.
The game’s governing body is also moving to diversify its investments as it aims to build a $250m asset base.
In February, The Australian Rugby League Commission, rugby league’s governing body in Australia, that is responsible for running the NRL, purchased the 81-room Mercure Kawana Waters on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. The hotel was sold in the ‘early $20ms’ via JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group’s Gareth Closter.
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Canterbury Leagues Club is the new owner of Rutherford Marketplace.
That buy added to the NRL’s to $20m purchase of the Quest Hotel in Sydney’s Woolooware, near the Cronulla Sharks’ home ground in September and the $30m they paid for the Gambaro Hotel up the road from the iconic Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
Heavyweights the Roosters, run by billionaire chairman Nick Politis, boast group assets worth about $150m according to The Daily Telegraph.
Those assets include clubs: Easts Bondi Junction, Waverley Greens, Berkeley Sports Club and Kingswood Sports Club.
They also own an office suite in Bondi Junction, the old Randwick Post Office, retail shops in Bondi Junction, a service station in Lithgow and last year they purchased a medical/dental centre at Bondi Junction.
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Woolies and BWS are the shopping mall’s anchor tenants.
NRL newcomers The Dolphins are another outfit who are buoyed by big money investments. Backed by the Redcliffe Leagues Club, the Dolphins have an asset base worth more than $100m, The Tele reported.
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