Woolworths offloads Warbu-Bellmere shopping centre for $37.75m

Supermarket giant Woolworths has sold the recently opened Warbu-Bellmere Shopping Centre to a Melbourne-based private investment group in a $37.75m deal.

Woolworths has sold the recently opened Warbu-Bellmere Shopping Centre in Queensland.

Supermarket giant Woolworths has sold the recently opened Warbu-Bellmere Shopping Centre to a Melbourne-based private investment group in a $37.75m deal as neighbourhood centre sales pick up.

Sitting along the Brisbane to Sunshine Coast growth corridor, the 5,164sq m shopping centre opened in August last year and is underpinned by a 10-year lease to Woolworths.

The supermarket occupies 71 per cent of the centre’s gross lettable area and serves as the largest full-line outlet in the main trade area.

CBRE’s Michael Hedger and Joe Tynan brokered the sale, with the price reflecting a 5.52 per cent yield, with the buyer understood to be interests associated with the Maliku family.

The centre features the latest format Woolworths direct-to-boot drive-through service and includes an alfresco food and dining precinct with cafe, pizza, kebab and sushi operators.

Key tenants include BWS, Discount Drug Store and Snap Fitness.

Warbu-Bellmere Shopping Centre is positioned to benefit from the significant growth corridor of Caboolture West, a high priority growth area expected to see population increase of 6.9 per cent per annum over the next 15 years along with strong retail expenditure growth of 4.2 per cent per annum.

“With the increasing costs in construction putting pressure on new supply and future development feasibilities, we continue to notice strong demand from the private investment sector and a wave of new entrants into the sector seeking long term investment opportunities,” Mr Hedger said.

CBRE research shows total shopping centre sales volumes have significantly declined due to economic uncertainty stemming from the high debt environment. However, the neighbourhood sector has continued to dominate the total national sales volume accounting for 64 per cent of all shopping centre transactions as investors look for resilient assets with predictable cash flow in these economic conditions – a trend that is forecast to continue.

Mr Tynan said that bidding was “very competitive” with multiple offers presented and the purchaser securing the property on an unconditional basis.

“A noticeable trend we are seeing is a higher percentage of Victorian-based investors purchasing assets in Queensland due to the new imposed land tax laws introduced in Victoria,” he said.