RetailHarrison CaithnessThu 22 Oct 26
Melton Retail Deal Reveals Room to Grow Rents at Coburns Central
HMC Capital has paid $49 million for a fully occupied Melton shopping centre delivering a 5.5 per cent initial yield, as investors interest in neighbourhood retail assets stays hot.
Lowy family and Alceon-backed group Assembly Funds Management (AFM) along with $1.5 trillion investment giant PGIM offloaded the centre.
The 2.3ha Coburns Central on Wurundjeri land at 523 High Street, Melton West is about 1km from the town centre.
It fronts the arterial High Street, about 37km north-west of Melbourne and 10km east of Bacchus Marsh.
Coburns Central—with a turnover of $2.6 million a year—is at 100 per cent occupancy across its 6845sq m of lettable space.
The centre is anchored by a Woolworths supermarket and also comprises 13 specialty stores and a mini-major tenant, next to an Ampol and Hungry Jack’s on two pad sites.
Ground level open car parking provides 349 spaces.
PGIM real estate head Steve Bulloch said the sale showed “depth of demand for well-located neighbourhood assets”.
Urbis data points to the centre rent rates as being one-third lower than market average.
Melton’s population is forecasted to increase about 79 per cent to almost half-a-million people in the next two decades.
Last year, AFM and PGIM acquired Coburns Central from Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) in a $440.5 million package deal.
That deal included the adjoining 25ha Woodgrove Shopping Centre, a medical complex and a development site.
The partners have held onto Woodgrove, its 53,372sq m net lettable area and more than 2000 car spaces.
QIC bought Coburns Central in 2015 for $26 million from Adelaide-based private investor Nick DiMauro.
Large format retail trading hit more than $4.5 billion this year, more than half that figure coming from Victoria.
MA Financial snagged a half-share in The Glen last month for $327.5 million—managing director Andrew Coutts told The Urban Developer it didn’t “stack up” to build new shopping centres.
