North Shore Marketplace sells for $33 million, doubling price paid five years ago

A Townsville shopping centre in the city’s northern growth corridor has sold for double the price it sold for five years ago. Here’s why it’s great for the city.

Aerial view of North Shore Marketplace. Picture: Supplied.

Townsville’s attractiveness for commercial investors has been reinforced by the sale of the North Shore Marketplace shopping centre, in a massive transaction which almost doubled the price paid for it five years ago.

Purchased by Clarence Property for $16.7 million in 2020, the Burdell centre was sold again for nearly $33m in late March, according to data from CoreLogic.

The property was purchased by fund manager ISPT, through the ISPT Retail Australia Property Trust, with confirmation given that the North Shore Marketplace branding would remain in place.

Built within Townsville’s northern growth corridor in 2011, North Shore Marketplace is a multi-tenanted convenience shopping centre anchored by Woolworths, sitting adjacent to the 5000 lot North Shore residential development.

The centre brings together 14 specialty retailers, alongside four office tenancies and 280 car parks, with a gross lettable area of 5691 sqm and total site area of 2.9 hectares.

Townsville's North Shore Marketplace has sold for nearly $33 million. Picture: Supplied.

ISPT Retail Australia Property Trust fund manager Kate Mathewson said the property represented an excellent fit within the IRAPT strategy of acquiring assets in growth corridors and creating a hub of assets in the Townsville region.

“The acquisition of Northshore Marketplace increases IRAPT’s exposure to high-quality, non-discretionary grocery anchored retail assets located in dominant catchments across Australia,” Ms Mathewson said.

Flashback to 2001 when Kate Mathewson was Stockland Townsville Centre Manager. Picture: Fiona Harding

ISPT was motivated to secure the deal off-market via American commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE, due to the high performance of Townsville assets across its portfolio, including Deeragun Village and Thuringowa Village.

These nearby assets will allow ISPT to seamlessly integrate North Shore Marketplace within existing management resources of nearby centres.

The new acquisition will add to the IRAPT fund, which has consistently outperformed the industry with an 8.19 per cent fund return (net of fees) since its inception.

Originally published as North Shore Marketplace sells for $33 million, doubling price paid five years ago