Newmark Buys Second Metro Bunnings Store

Newmark Capital has secured two flagship Bunnings Warehouse properties in metro Sydney and Melbourne for its hardware trust.

The property investment manager bought Bunnings Eastgardens for $75 million and purchased the land for a new Preston Bunnings for $15 million in a deal to purchase the building once complete.

The Eastgardens site settled this week on the property, which is 9km south of Sydney.

The purpose-built Bunnings Warehouse is on a 2.3ha site and has 14,920sq m of floor space. It opened in June, 2017.

Newmark settled on the Preston deal in February. The new multi-level Bunnings, at the corner of Bell Street and Chifley Drive, will have 18,612sq m of floor space and 525 carparks.

Bunnings is funding and managing the construction, which is scheduled for completion in May, 2022. Its end value is expected to be $85 million.

Newmark funds manager Stuart Fox said the acquisitions continued the growth of the trust, which now has six Bunnings Warehouse on the eastern seaboard.

“It demonstrates our commitment to the large format retail sector and our ability to secure quality assets in a competitive market while applying our disciplined approach to asset selection,” Fox said.

Colliers’ James Wilson negotiated the Eastgardens sale through an off-market process.

“We are experiencing unprecedented demand for NSW retail investments from investors seeking to deploy capital in resilient assets with strong underlying land value, long-term income growth and covenant security,” Wilson said.

The sale of the Preston site was negotiated by David Butera of Mulcahy Butera and Stuart Taylor of JLL.

There has been a plenty of movement of late in the large format retail market, particularly for Bunnings stores with a Charter Hall partnership buying six stores for $353 million in November and the listing of a 14-Bunnings portfolio for $450 million in February.

The Australian hardware giant recently set up its headquarters in Growthpoint Properties Australia's new Richmond office, Botanicca 3.