Mintus buys Beenleigh Marketplace in QLD from Dexus for $85m

A shopping centre in the growth corridor between Brisbane and the Gold Coast has sold for $85 million as interest in sub-regional shopping centres continues to surge.

CBRE’s Simon Rooney negotiated the off-market sale of the prominent Beenleigh Marketplace on behalf of Dexus Wholesale Property Fund following the recent sale of Shepparton Marketplace in Victoria for $88.1 million.

The 60,680sqm property - out of which only a third is dedicated to the centre itself - was sold to property investment and development firm Mintus, whose commercial property portfolio is mostly confined to NSW except for a childcare in Deception Bay to Brisbane's north.

"The transaction demonstrates the continued demand for quality, metropolitan sub-regional assets with a focus on non-discretionary spending. There is particularly strong interest in assets which offer strategic value-add opportunities," says Rooney, who is CBRE's head of retail capital markets - Pacific.

CBRE highlights immediate potential to undertake targeted remixing of the centre’s speciality tenants, while the fact the landholding is largely underutilised means there is significant scope for future development opportunities.

The centre draws 2.6 million visitors each year and has an impressive moving annual turnover (MAT) of $117 million, including its strongly performing major tenant offering of Woolworths and Big W.

Rooney said investors were attracted by the centre’s combined sales performance and the exceptional income security of the major tenants, coupled with the centre’s robust specialty productivity of $8,753/sqm, and occupancy cost of 12.5 per cent - well below the relevant industry benchmark.

Beenleigh Marketplace is expected to continue to benefit from the substantial population growth occurring in and around the centre, with the current resident population of some 115,000 people expected to grow by 2.3 per cent per annum to 2036.

The centre benefits from its strategic position along the Beenleigh and Gold Coast train line, where major residential developments will drive significant population growth, including the Yarrabilba master planned community, which is set to accommodate an additional 45,000 residents by 2050.