Moelis Australia offloading Hollywood Plaza

Hollywood Plaza shopping complex in Adelaide’s north is on the market, with a price tag around $90m expected.

ASX-listed asset manager Moelis Australia is offloading the Hollywood Plaza shopping complex in Adelaide’s north, with offers around $90m expected.

The sub-regional centre, 20km north of the CBD, is anchored by Coles and Woolworths supermarkets, and a Target store.

A new medical centre, mini majors including Best & Less, The Reject Shop and Priceline, a refurbished fresh food operator and 60 specialty stores also operate from the centre, which stretches across 22,747sq m of gross lettable area.

Chris Monaghan and Richard Germain’s Armada Funds Management paid $73m for the property in 2012 before that company’s takeover by Moelis in 2017.

Colliers International head of retail investments Lachlan MacGillivray, who’s leading the sale campaign, said the current owner had repositioned the property with a tenancy mix oriented towards non-discretionary and service-based retailers.

He said he was already fielding interest from domestic and international institutional investors, high net worth individuals and syndicates, and expected the property to fetch around $90m.

Hollywood Plaza shopping centre - corner of Spains Road and Winzor Street, Salisbury Downs.

“I think what we’re seeing is an asset that has remained incredibly resilient during the pandemic, with strong levels of foot traffic and occupancy that’s as strong as it’s ever been,” he said.

“The owners have repositioned the asset and taken it from having a high level of fashion and other discretionary uses to a centre with more of your everyday needs - a lot of services, a medical centre.

“Anything with good defensive cash flows like this we’re always seeing huge demand for.”

According to Colliers, Hollywood Plaza attracts around 3 million shoppers each year, helping to generate total sales of close to $125m last calendar year.

Mr MacGillivray expects the South Australian property market to continue to attract interest from interstate and international investors post COVID-19, given the state’s reputation for being a safe haven.

“South Australia always gets a strong response from investors because of the very low volume of properties,” he said.

“Adelaide is a very resilient market and the fact that there’s no stamp duty offers a huge advantage over the eastern seaboard states.

“I think with this one it will be a battle between the parochial locals and the non-South Australians wanting to get access to a market that is a very tight market.”

With 1226 car parks on its 8ha site, Hollywood Plaza also offers buyers a range of future development opportunities, Mr MacGillivray said.

“There’s a high car parking ratio - more than is required for council purposes - so you could expand the shopping centre, you could put some restaurants on pad sites - there’s a whole range of things you could do with the site.”

In 2019 Moelis sold the nearby Hollywood Plaza large format retail centre for $12.95m.

At around the same time, it managed the $670m purchase of a 50 per cent stake in Adelaide’s biggest shopping centre, Westfield Marion, on behalf of Singapore’s SPH REIT.