The 12,500-square-meter large format retail center where Aldi is located in Mentone, one of Melbourne's suburb, fetches $40 million.
According to Commercial Real Estate, the sale was made to The Property Advisory, a Melbourne-based investment firm, by Ballarat-based, commercial builders and developers H.Troon. The large format shopping center is said to have topped the $1 billion mark in sales for the first time in 2015. What made the sector even more attractive to shoppers was the initiative in Victoria to revised the planning rules to allow supermarkets as one of its tenants.
According to the real estate website, other sales include Epping Homemaker Centre, which showcases shops that sell bulky goods, that was taken by Brett Blundy's ASX-listed Aventus Retail Property Fund for $40 million as well. There was aslo the sale for the Wodonga Homemaker Center, a shopping destination for home needs or ideas, that was picked up by Harvey Norman for $24.6 million.
The Property Advisory, is a property syndicate that is run by former real estate agent Gil Williams. The firm deals with presenting commercial, industrial and retail property into groups or pitching the properties before wealthy investors who handles their own funds.
According to the Herald Sun back in September, the Development and construction company H. Troon bought the land where the supermarket Aldi stands. The large format retail center, besides Aldi, is home to retail stores like spotlight, Tasman Meats, Petbarn, Amart Sports, Pillow Talk and other national brands.
It was Chris Parry from CBRE who negotiated the sale of the shopping center, built on a former Nylex factory site and across from Bunnings, to The Property Advisory. The building is still fully leased by the above tenants. H. Troon has also sold a 4,000 sq. m center in Launceston, Tasmania. The sale was again made to another Melbourne-based firm.
