Coles-Anchored Centre in Far North Fetches $34m

A Coles-anchored neighbourhood shopping centre has changed hands for $34 million in Queensland’s far north.

Property fund manager Fawkner Property has acquired the Clifton Village Shopping Centre from Indigenous Business Australia, as trustee for the I-REIT Sub-Trust (IBA).

The 7811sq m shopping centre, 24km north of the Cairns CBD at Clifton Beach, is underpinned by a recently refurbished Coles supermarket, a mini-major and 23 specialty stores.

It has a strong national tenant line-up that includes The Reject Shop, Liquorland and Domino’s, supported by an allied health precinct with Terry White Chemist, QML Pathology and a large medical centre.

The 2.3ha site has 377 carparking spaces, 304 of which are undercover, and has frontage to the Captain Cook Highway.

IBA had held the asset since 2017.

CBRE’s Michael Hedger, Joe Tynan and Danny Betros managed the sale.

Hedger said more than 112 direct enquiries from private investors, syndicates and institutions were received as part of the expressions-of-interest campaign, and nine competitive offers were presented at the close in April, demonstrating the continued demand in the neighbourhood investment sector.

“Since the relaxation of monetary policy, we have seen stronger enquiry levels across all retail investment campaigns in the market with new purchaser groups accounting for 28 per cent, predominantly in the private and syndications sector,” he said.

Tynan said that with increasing construction costs putting pressure on new supply and future development feasibility, demand from investors for assets that show value well below replacement costs remained strong.

The sale is the third retail property CBRE has sold in Far North Queensland this year, including ISPT’s acquisition of North Shore Marketplace for $33 million.

It is Fawkner Property’s third shopping centre acquisition in Cairns after its purchases of Earlville Shopping Town in 2022 ($146 million) and Cairns Central Shopping Centre in 2024 ($390 million).

Within the past two years Fawkner Property has acquired more than $1.85 billion in shopping centres across Australia.

That had included the purchases of Gladstone Square Shopping Centre ($26.7 million), Willows Shopping Centre at Townsville ($212 million) and Gladstone Centre Plaza ($139 million), making the fund manager the dominant owner of shopping centres in Central and North Queensland, the agents said.