Retail centre goes for $81.7m
The Northwood Supa Centre has sold for $81.7 million in one of the biggest commercial property deals in Christchurch during the past
15 years.
The buyer of the big-box retail centre is Christchurch investor Miles Middleton, who did not wish to talk about the transaction and said it was subject to a confidentiality agreement.
The vendors were Canadian investors Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSPIB) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which acquired it in 2014 as part of a portfolio of properties they bought from AMP Capital.
‘‘I’m sorry I can’t discuss anything with you. I’m under a CA [confidentiality agreement],’’ Middleton said when asked to confirm the purchase.
‘‘I know the vendor doesn’t want it in the news. Neither do we.’’
Other interested parties are understood to have been from Australia and the United Kingdom.
The property is located in north Christchurch, about 7 kilometres from the CBD.
It hosts seven major retailers including The Warehouse, Harvey Norman, Noel Leeming, Smiths City and supermarket operator Countdown, as well as 24 specialty retailers. It generates net income of
$6.82m plus GST, according to sales information.
Real estate services firm CBRE marketed the property.
On the corner of Radcliffe and Main North roads, the Northwood site is 7.35 hectares with a lettable area of 33,062 square metres and about 94 per cent occupancy.
Christchurch City Council rates records show the property had a
2016 capital value of $85.9m. Middleton is a highly experienced and discreet property investor who started with commercial investments such as motels and taverns, and traded up into office blocks in 2000.
He and his wife Peggy owned four office blocks in the Christchurch CBD in 2011 when the February 22 earthquake struck.
These included the landmark
13-storey Westpac Tower on the corner of Cashel and High streets, which they bought in 2005.
Middleton was reported as having invested in Auckland after the earthquakes, buying Beca House for $55m. Asked if Northwood Supa Centre was the first purchase in Christchurch since the quakes, he said it was not.
‘‘We’ve got a couple of office buildings, new ones, round the place,’’ Middleton said.
Only a few commercial properties in Christchurch have fetched more than $50m.
The sale of the Palms Shopping Centre in Shirley for $205m in 2007 is believed to be the largest commercial property deal in Christchurch.
The largest industrial property sale in the South Island is considered to be $53.75m for Castle Rock Business Park in Heathcote in late 2018.
Another recent big retail deal in Christchurch was the sale of the South City Shopping Centre by local property investor John Butterfield for $46m to another local property investor, Terrence Stirling, in May last year.