David Jones opens first new Sydney store in seven years
2015-04-21
David Jones has opened its first new store in its home city of Sydney in seven years and the first since its sale to South Africa's Woolworths Holdings. As well as the new David Jones, Macquarie Centre is now also home to Sydney's first H&M and UNIQLO stores.
As well as injecting some much needed new blood into local shopping, foreign retailers are creating a 'space race' for the owners of regional shopping centers across Australia – particularly in Sydney and Melbourne.
According to CBRE's latest research, roughly 1 million square meters of regional shopping centre space will be completed in the next three years, with a key driver being the ongoing influx of the offshore retailers.
CBRE head of research Stephen McNabb said overseas retailers had been vying for some time for prime CBD shopping centre space.
CBRE's national director of retail services Alistair Palmer said the expanded focus of foreign retailers was exemplified by the $440 million upgrade of Macquarie, whose expansion had taken it to 138,500sqm and made it the largest shopping centre in NSW.
But while Sydney shopping might be booming, other centers are not being left out of the action.
"There is a significant pool of domestic and offshore capital chasing large transactions with investors looking to capitalize on large, quality opportunities rarely available," JLL Australasian head of retail investments Simon Rooney said.
One of the latest movements was Stockland's sale of a 50 per cent stake in its Townsville Shopping Centre to AMP Capital Shopping Centre Fund, for $228.7 million, as part of its capital partnering program. Under the deal, Stockland will retain management, leasing and development control the mall, where the group has recently spent $180 million on redevelopment.
John Schroder, group executive and chief executive of commercial property at Stockland, said the sale of the half share helped to rebalance the investment exposure in Townsville in favor of other "high-returning growth projects across Australia".
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