Southern Tasmania’s Channel Court shopping centre has been sold for a record $82.5 million, surpassing the previous record set just under a decade ago.
The Kingston mall, anchored by Woolworths and Big W, was acquired by Adelaide-based Nick DiMauro from Challenger Group, according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
The AFR reported that the sale is part of Challenger’s strategy to divest its retail assets and allocate capital to new projects, reducing its property portfolio by $300 million to $3 billion over the past year.
Channel Court is the only sub-regional shopping centre south of Hobart’s CBD, offering 25,000 square metres of gross lettable space.
The company purchased Channel Court in 2015 for $76 million from the Behrakis family, a deal that held the record until the recent sale.
The next largest individual retail sale in the state was Northgate Shopping Centre, which sold for $70.1 million in 2009.
“We are continuing to see a shift in the weight of capital seeking these sub-regional assets, both locally and offshore,” JLL’s broker Nick Willis told the AFR.
“The buyer profile continues to evolve, with buyers attracted to the sector’s fundamentals and value propositions.”
“In the prior four years, an accumulative 77% of sub-regionals sold have been to syndicators and private investors. In the prior four years to that [2019 to 2015], conversely, 76% was to institutional owners.”
Earlier this month, Glenorchy Plaza, which also features Big W as its anchor tenant, was sold by Elders Commercial for $19.75 million.
The sale coincides with plans for a new shopping complex nearby, Spring Farm Village, which will include a second Coles supermarket for the area.
