Owner chasing $500m for Wollongong Central
Unlisted GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund is looking to sell Wollongong Central, together with the rights to manage the CBD centre, in a play that could reap about $500 million.
The centre has been substantially repositioned by GPT after Myer left Wollongong when its lease ran out in 2016. David Jones has since turned that the space into one of its newest department stores.
Wollongong Central also has a Target, Coles, 14 mini-majors and more than 170 specialty stores with a gross lettable area of 54,600sqm.
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GPT’s $68 million repositioning, completed late last year, also saw Swedish retailer H&M, Mecca Maxima and other national chains take space in the centre.
The GPT-managed vehicle is switching focus to larger ventures. “The planned divestment of Wollongong Central will further increase the exposure of the GWSCF portfolio toward super-regional shopping centres,” fund manager Brett Williams says.
Reweighting the portfolio kicked off with the divestment of Westfield Woden in late 2016, followed by the expansion of Macarthur Square to super-regional status in 2017.
More recently, the fund has acquired an additional 25% interest in Australia’s fifth-largest shopping centre, Highpoint, in Melbourne for $680 million.
Colliers International has been appointed to run the sales campaign, which will formally start early next month.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
