Vicinity Clocks Up Third Sale in the West

Retail property group Vicinity Centres’ sell-off in the west has reached asset number three with the disposal of Maddington Central, 17km south-east of Perth’s CBD.

Property investor Realside is believed to have paid $107 million for the Coles, Woolworths and Kmart-anchored centre.

The 27,929sq m centre, acquired by Vicinity in 2002, has 69 speciality stores, midsize tenants including Best & Less and The Reject Shop, and 2164 carparking spaces.

It’s the third sale by Vicinity in WA in recent times.

In October it offloaded Dianella Plaza in Perth’s inner north for $76.25 million to Greenpool Capital after two decades of ownership.

And in September, Melbourne’s Fawkner Property and Hong Kong’s Pacific Alliance Group acquired Vicinity’s Midland Gate for a speculated $465 million, a 5.9 per cent premium to book value.

That centre, on a 14.4ha site 17km west of the CBD, had been in Vicinity’s portfolio for 22 years.

Vicinity is arguably the biggest player in retail property in Australia with a portfolio value of $14.36 billion.

In March, Vicinity Centres was due to reach settlement across four properties as it eyes a Bunnings Warehouse and other major retail redevelopments to build that portfolio. 

▲ Maddington Central is the third WA centre Vicinity has moved along since September.

The 13,000sq m hardware and garden warehouse at the Colonnades Shopping Centre, South Australia, was the first Bunnings to be added to Vicinity’s holdings.

The previous month the shopping centre giant moved a step closer to its ambitious plans to transform the centre of Bankstown when the NSW Government approved changes to local planning controls.

The Department of Planning and Environment agreed to amendments to Bankstown’s local environment plan, which will allow increased building heights and floor-space ratios.

It was another step in Vicinity’s staged, 30-year plan to redevelop 11.4ha of central Bankstown into a thriving mixed-use urban neighbourhood.

And in November, Vicinity snapped up the remaining half of Sydney mall Chatswood Chase in a $307-million deal.

The shopping centre landlord told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) at the time it had exchanged unconditional contracts to acquire a 49 per cent interest in the North Shore centre from Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC.