Indian restaurant chain Dosa Hut chooses Crestwood Plaza in Molendinar for first location on the Gold Coast

Indian restaurant chain Dosa Hut has opened its first outlet on the Gold Coast.

Restaurant chain Dosa Hut has opened an outlet at Crestwood Plaza in Molendinar.

INDIAN restaurant chain Dosa Hut has chosen Crestwood Plaza in Molendinar for its first outlet on the Gold Coast.

The new store brings its total footprint to 20 restaurants across Victoria, NSW, ACT and Queensland.

Dosa Hut has taken a five-year lease with options for a 165sq m tenancy at the shopping centre. The shop opened earlier this month. Leasing agent Tanaka Jabangwe, of Knight Frank, declined to comment on the leasing rate, however industry sources said it was for about $700/sq m plus GST.

Crestwood Plaza hit the market in 2017 but failed to sell.

Mr Jabangwe said Dosa Hut had been looking for some time at opening a store on the Gold Coast.

“Dosa Hut were seeking a central location in a suburban catchment with ease of access to major road networks, and Crestwood Plaza fit the bill in every aspect,” he said.

“The convenience centre is situated on Olsen Ave, which is a very busy thoroughfare with plenty of traffic passing estimated at about 57,000 cars daily, which offered great exposure for the restaurant.”

Mr Jabangwe said the Gold Coast retail market continues to be driven by demand from Gold Coast and interstate food and beverage operators.

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“After the Commonwealth Games we’ve seen an increase in inquiry from established operators seeking high profile positions across the city,” he said.

“There has also been an increase in Asian cuisine offerings and national chains in strategic shopping centre positions particularly through the northern suburbs of the Gold Coast.

“High-end food and beverage offerings have been focused around the traditional premium precincts of Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach with a surge in demand for southern Gold Coast positions between Mermaid Beach through to Palm Beach. But there is also plenty of demand from other operators for other suburban areas of the Gold Coast.”

Dosa Hut was established in 2007 by Praveen Indukuri and Anil Kumar Karpurapu after they came to Australia to study telecommunications. However, they ended up opening a restaurant in Melbourne with a focus on South Indian cuisine.

The Dosa Hut tenancy was created when owner Adelaide-based Prime Space Projects lifted the number of tenants to 25 in 2017, building new shops next to anchor tenant Spano’s SUPA IGA.

The 3789sq m shopping centre was bought by Prime Space Projects for $12.8 million in 2010 and hit the market in 2017 for about $30 million.

However, the centre, which has 191 carparks, failed to find a buyer.

Crestwood Plaza was the debut commercial project for the Howard group, linked to developer Mark Howard, and opened in 2005.