Melbourne-based fund manager Fawkner Property has paid $212 million for the Willows Shopping Centre in Townsville.

According to JLL, it is the largest retail transaction this year in Queensland.

The Townsville transaction brings Fawkner’s total assets under management to more than $3 billion, with additional retail assets in the pipeline.

This followed a nationwide surge in retail buying which saw the acquisition of Gladstone, Mackay and Cairns in Queensland.

Fawkner Property founder Chris Garnaut said it was a “strategic acquisition that expands our presence in central and far north Queensland and will allow us to leverage the synergies of having a high-quality retail portfolio in a rapidly growing market.”

“As interest rates potentially enter a stabilisation phase, private equity, which has dominated this investment space for the past two years, is moving quickly to secure high-quality, large retail assets at attractive returns as this window of opportunity begins to close.

“We have recently witnessed a return of foreign and domestic institutional investors to the sub-regional and regional shopping centre sector, given the attractive returns on offer. This should translate into growth in retail volumes as we close out 2024 and continue into 2025.”

In recent years Fawkner has been one of the most active buyers of regional and sub-regional shopping centres in Australia.

▲ The property is the only triplex supermarket centre in North Queensland.

The sale of Willows Shopping Centre was conducted on behalf of Dexus by Nick Willis and Sam Hatcher of JLL and Jonathan Fox and Carl Molony of Stonebridge following a formal expressions of interest campaign. The centre was owned by Dexus Wholesale Property Fund and is managed by Dexus.

CBRE’s Pacific Retail Capital Markets Director, Simon Rooney, represented Fawkner Property in negotiating the transaction.

Hatcher said the sale comes after transaction volume in subregional centers this year was nearly $1.2 billion, down about 55 percent from the three-year average annual volume for the subsector.

“The decline in transaction volume is attributed to tighter investment supply availability while the fundamentals of the retail asset class continue to improve,” Hatcher said.

Since 2021, Fawkner has acquired 11 retail assets with a combined value of $2.1 billion, including Midland Gate, Karratha City and The Square Mirrabooka in WA; Stockland Traralgon in Victoria; Cairns Central, Mount Pleasant Centre, Stockland Cairns and Stockland Gladstone in Queensland; and Settlement City in Port Macquarie and Stockland Nowra in New South Wales.

▲ The Townsville Centre joins a number of other regional retail assets across Queenland in the Fawkner portfolio.

The Willows Shopping Centre has a gross leasable area of ​​44,507 m2, situated on a prestigious plot of 15.39 ha, with an additional development plot of 4.42 ha.

This shopping centre is home to Townsville’s first and only Aldi store, as well as the only shopping centre in the city to house three supermarkets.

The site has seen significant investment and development programmes in recent years, including the opening of a Woolworths store and fresh food retailer, and the successful reconfiguration of the former Target store lease to house Aldi, TK Maxx and Planet Fitness.

The Willows Shopping Centre is located 11km southeast of the central business district and has a turnover of around $360 million (including Aldi estimates).