Primewest Picks Up Gold Coast Retail Centre for $66m

Primewest has purchased a large format retail centre on the Gold Coast for $66 million.

The 14,800sq m Robina Home and Life complex was recently developed and sold by QIC’s real estate arm.

The homemaker centre, on a 3.6ha site, features 13 large-format retail tenancies, anchored by Nick Scali and The Good Guys, and a cafe.

Based on fully leased net income, the deal was struck on a yield of about 6 per cent.

The centre, at 550 Christine Avenue, adjoins Bunnings Warehouse—also divested by QIC, in December for $28m—was sold with a weighted average lease expiry of 3.3 years.

Founded by John Bond, the son of the late tycoon Alan Bond, Primewest has more than $4.9bn of assets under management across Australia and the west coast of the United States, across the retail, industrial, commercial and residential sectors.

The listed fund manager is a significant owner in the large-format retail sector, with over 18 assets under management totalling over 300,000sq m and another centre currently under development.

Primewest has been actively targeting neighbourhood shopping centres across the country under a new institutional mandate and $300m fund, formed in June last year.

Primewest said the homemaker centre will seed a new private unlisted trust, the PW Large Format Retail Trust No.2.

Primewest executive chairman John Bond said the pandemic had shone a light on a number of successful retail assets that had performed well during the crisis due to a strong tenant mix focusing on non-discretionary or serviced-based retailers.

“The company remained very confident in the large format retail sector and saw a clear opportunity for growth [in] Robina,” Bond said.

“[The shopping centre] is at the epicentre of the rapidly expanding Robina community which will benefit from more than $17 billion worth of planned investment in the immediate Gold Coast vicinity.”

Last year, Primewest seeded the fund with the $34.8m acquisition of Spring Farm Shopping Centre, south of Sydney, from Woolworths.

It also purchased Pemulwuy Marketplace and West Ryde Marketplace in Sydney for a combined $91.5m from Charter Hall Retail REIT.

In 2019, Primewest bought Stockland’s Tamworth Homespace, a single-level, large-format retail shopping centre 4km south of Tamworth’s CBD, and Coffs Harbour’s Moonee Marketplace for $30.5m.