CLIFFO UP FOR GRABS
Insiders say centre could go for $200m
ONE of Toowoomba’s biggest and busiest shopping centres has hit the market, in an opportunity that could fetch offers above $200 million.
That’s according to industry experts, after the Clifford Gardens Shopping Centre was listed for sale this week.
The major centre, featuring anchor tenants like Coles and Woolworths, was last sold in 2016 by an investment company for a rumoured $190 million.
Valuer Herron Todd White believed interest would be strong in the freehold property, thanks in part to record-low interest rates.
ONE of Toowoomba’s biggest shopping centres could sell for more than $200 million, according to industry experts.
Clifford Gardens Shopping Centre in Newtown has hit the market, just three years after it was bought for a rumoured $190 million.
The 90-hectare centre has been listed for sale by JLL and Stonebridge, along with two other centres across Australia owned by the same company.
With a fully-leased net income of $13.25 million annually, Clifford Gardens currently enjoys a 97 per cent tenant occupancy.
LJ Hooker commercial agent Markus Eames said he expected the centre to earn serious interest from firms and consortiums across the world.
“It’s really hard to place price-wise, but it’s a circa $200 million property easily,” he said.
“Traditionally it’s less risky for a larger fund, because they’ll have 20 or 30 centres.”
Mr Eames said the interest from international investment companies in Toowoomba’s commercial assets was a sign of the city’s maturation.
Herron Todd White Darling Downs general manager Dean Dederer said interest in Toowoomba’s commercial properties was also thanks to low interest rates.
“The low interest rate environment has resulted in strong demand for quality, fully leased retail properties by investors,” he said.
“The limited supply has constrained the number of investment sales and combined with declining interest rates has resulted in a firming of net yields over the past two to three years.”
The centre features anchor tenants Big W, Coles and Woolworths along with about 80 specialty stores.
“Clifford Gardens is an established and fundamentally strong sub-regional shopping centre underpinned by a dual supermarket offering and a single department store,” JLL senior director Sam Hatcher wrote in the listing.
“Clifford Gardens, recording 3.67 million annual visits, is a convenience-based centre with historically low levels of vacancy and is supported by an expansive 1600-bay car park.
Funds giant Blackstone bought the centre in 2016 from previous owner Vicinity Centres, as part of a package deal supposedly worth more than $600 million.