Nick DiMauro on the hunt for more shopping centres

After weathering the COVID-19 storm, prominent shopping centre landlord Nick DiMauro is back on the hunt for more retail assets.

Nick DiMauro at Sefton Plaza. Picture: Michael Marschall

After weathering the COVID-19 storm, Adelaide property investor Nick DiMauro is back on the hunt for more retail assets to add to his expanding portfolio.

The removal of stamp duty from commercial property transactions remains a key attraction for Mr DiMauro to the South Australian market, and was a key reason for his foray into New Zealand, where there is no stamp duty on commercial and residential sales.

While he described the early stages of COVID-19 as a “frightening” experience for landlords and tenants, he said his shopping centres were now performing better than they were before the pandemic.

“We’re in the acquiring mode,” Mr DiMauro said.

“We bought a big one in WA a few months ago through COVID, that was $100m plus so it was a big one, and we’re looking also at some in South Australia at the moment.

“But it’s very tightly held so it’s not that easy. A few have come up from interstate owners and we’ve had a look. South Australia, with the stamp duty, it really is remarkable, they’re trying to stimulate the economy and I think it’s a good move.

“When you’re talking in New Zealand, I spent a quarter of a billion dollars there, that’s about a $13m dollar saving, so it’s something that you have to think of.”

Mr DiMauro was ranked at 150 on last month’s Richest 250 list after amassing a $763m fortune.

At the height of the pandemic lats year he splashed out more than $100m on Armadale Shopping City, south of Perth, adding to his portfolio of more than 20 shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand.

After starting his working life as a plumber, he bought his first major shopping centre — Sefton Plaza — in the mid-1990s, later expanding interstate and into New Zealand.

He now controls six centres in South Australia, including Parabanks and Aberfoyle Hub.

Mr DiMauro said while retail trade across the portfolio had rebounded quickly since the middle of last year, retail landlords faced ongoing challenges both in the short and long term. “I’d say that right now, for the last couple of months, we’ve been above where we were pre-COVID,” he said.

“But the key is JobKeeper. We don’t know what effect that’s (end of JobKeeper) going to have.

“The internet’s out there too, there’s a lot of sales through the internet, and COVID could have accelerated that trend.

“But I think the government — federal and also local — did a tremendous job. They helped where it needed to be helped, and they helped the right people, the ones that really needed that help, which in turn has helped us.”

Mr DiMauro said COVID-19 had accelerated the need for retail landlords to create “destinations” in their local communities.

“Services are very important — medical centres, gyms, more reasons for a person to go into a shopping centre rather than just buy goods,” he said.

“We’re competing against the internet.”