Despite the cost-of-living crisis hitting retailers, shopping centres with solid food and supermarket anchors are still being keenly sought by investors.
Figtree Grove generates annual sales around $220 million and is anchored by Coles, Woolworths and Kmart, along with 65 specialty stores. The deal, brokered on behalf of MA Financial and Paragon REIT by JLLโs Nick Willis and Sam Hatcher, boosts Fawknerโs portfolio which, over the past 18 months, has grown by more than $1.5 billion.
The fund manager previously landed the Willows shopping centre in Nowra and Cairns Central which they acquired just over a year ago from Lendlease for $390 million.
Pub deals
The new year has kicked off with a flurry of deals in the pub world.
It follows a busy end to last year during which investor Sam Arnaoutโs Iris Capital paid a reported $180 million to MA Financialโs Redcape Group for its Cabramatta Hotel in Sydneyโs Cabramatta and El Cortez in Canley Heights.
Cabramatta Hotel in Sydney.Credit:
Agents, HTL Propertyโs Dan Dragicevich and Andrew Jolliffe, told Capital Gain the twin deals also represent the highest price paid for pubs in 2024, taking the consolidated value of hotel sales in metro Sydney to $1 billion.
HTL also recently negotiated the sale of Newcastle icon Finneganโs Hotel. The purchasers are veteran publicans Cath Antaw and Stewart Smith, the couple who operate the Great Northern in Teralba. Also in Sydneyโs north-west growth corridor, the Tumbridge family sold the Railway Hotel in Windsor after 27 years through HTL and Peter Chidgey to a private buyer.
In the city, the Edinburgh Castle Hotel on the corner of Pitt and Bathurst streets, was bought by John Azarโs Good Beer Company. It will be added to the groupโs pub portfolio.
JLLโs Ben McDonald, Kate MacDonald and James Aroney advised on the sale, which reflects a 3.2 per cent cap rate on the passing income at a reported price around $30 million.
Data deal
In a major coup, Lendlease has signed up data network provider NBN Co as a tenant for its $1.2 billion Victoria Cross Tower in North Sydney. It sits atop the new metro station of the same name.
NBN will occupy six floors or 9000 square metres across levels 6 to 11 when it relocates in mid-2026. The group will not have to travel far as they have a lease signed in 2010 in Dexus-owned 100 Mount Street nearby.
Like many companies, NBN Co has been reducing space (down from 13,000 square metres across 11 floors) as flexible work dictates staff commutes to the office. It joins infrastructure services provider Ventia in the Mount Street building.
Carolyn Cummins is a former commercial property editor at the Sydney Morning Herald. This is her first Capital Gain column for Sydney. Carolyn can be contracted on carolynannecummins@gmail.com
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