Supermarket Giants Expand Footprint in Regional Australia

High interest in regional retail is continuing as major supermarket chains pick land in Victoria and Centuria secures a shopping centre in NSW.

Pellicano, in a joint venture with Judd & Sons, has sold two land parcels (pictured at top) in Kaiela Business Park at Yarrawonga in regional Victoria to Coles and Aldi.

The larger lot, measuring 2.076ha  was sold to Coles, and Aldi acquired a 8780sq m site.

These sales mark the completion of the masterplanned estate, which was developed from a 12ha site acquired in 2010.

Pellicano managing director Nando Pellicano said the estate was now sold out and “has grown into a hub for local and national businesses”.

The business park, at the main gateway into Yarrawonga, which is about 220km north-west of Melbourne, counts Bunnings Warehouse, Toyota, Tradelink, Repco, and Ford among its tenants and owners.

Meanwhile, Centuria Capital Group has secured the Manning Mall shopping centre at Taree for $34.85 million.

Located 250km northwest of Sydney, the 10,800sq m centre was transacted at a 62 per cent discount to replacement cost.

Manning Mall includes a Target, 27 specialty stores, four kiosks, and 422 on-grade car parks, and is anchored by a Coles supermarket with a long-term lease expiry in 2034.

Earlier this year, Centuria Capital Group acquired Halls Head Central, a sub-regional shopping centre in WA, for $70 million.

▲ Manning Mall will benefit from a new tenancy mix to "better align with local customer demographics", Centuria says.

Centuria joint chief executive Jason Huljich said the acquisition underpinned a new single-asset, closed-ended wholesale fund, the Centuria Manning Mall Fund (CMMF).

“Manning Mall provides a counter-cyclical investment opportunity for our broad network of wholesale and high net worth investors, aiming to capture the strong investment appetite we experienced with our over-subscribed Centuria Halls Head Central Fund earlier this year,” Huljich said.

With a 4.95-year weighted average lease expiry and 94 per cent occupancy, the asset presents a value-add opportunity in a growing market, Centuria said.

Taree’s population is anticipated to increase by about 25 per cent by 2041, with retail expenditure expected to rise at an average rate of 3.7 per cent per annum to $1.59 billion across the same period.

Regional retail has been a hot commodity this year, capped by a run of high-priced sales in the past month.

In one of the largest retail transaction of the year, Fawkner Property last month acquired Townsville’s Willows Shopping Centre for $212 million.

Since 2021, Fawkner has added 12 regional retail assets across WA, Victoria, Queensland and NSW, with a portfolio now comprising more than $3 billion in total funds under management.

GPT Group’s flagship retail fund also has a half-stake in its ‘super-regional’ $850-million Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne on the block.