Gold Coast shopping mecca Pacific Fair up for sale
Gold Coast shopping centre Pacific Fair is expected to be put up for sale in what is likely to be the nation’s largest retail commercial property sale.
Long one of the iconic shopping and tourism destinations of the Gold Coast, the sale of Pacific Fair in Broadbeach is tipped to set a new benchmark price for sales of major shopping centres following the pandemic disruption.
Pacific Fair will be the fourth shopping centre on the Gold Coast to be sold or put on the market in the past three weeks.
The shopping centre that opened in 1977, and has been renovated and redeveloped six times, hosts 400 stores dining, fashion, luxury and global brand stores.
It is tipped to sell for around $1.8 billion.
Pacific Fair is owned by two investment funds, AMP Capital Retail Trust and AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund.
Both plan to sell their share.
AMP Capital Retail Trust has appointed Colliers International to sell its 80 per cent share in the centre. The AMP Capital Retail Trust ownership includes sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
An AMP Capital Retail Trust spokesperson today declined to comment on the potential sale.
The remaining 20 per cent stake, owned by the AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund (ADPF), is on the market separately. CBRE has been appointed for the sale.
The $5.4 billion ADPF fund merged in April with rival fund Dexus, after the implementation agreement was announced on the Australian Stock Exchange in March. Under the merger, Dexus had flagged its plans to sell assets.
The ADPF 20 per cent stake has been valued between $335.9m and $366m.
With the AMP Capital Retail Trust’s 80 per cent share, the total sale price is expected to top $1.8 billion.
Under it most recent $670-million overhaul in 2016, Pacific Fair was transformed into a destination resort-style precinct that turned it into Australia’s fourth largest shopping centre.
Pacific Fair’s expected entry to the commercial property market comes after a flurry of shopping centre sales on the Gold Coast.
In the past three weeks, the State Government’s fund manager, Queensland Investment Commission, revealed it planned to sell a 50 per cent stake in Westfield Helensvale.
In smaller sales, the southern Gold Coast neighbourhood shopping centre known as the “Man on the Bike” shops was sold for $6.2 million in early June.
A week earlier, the Miami Shopping Village sold to a Gold Coast investor for $9.1 million.
