Argus offloads Gold Coast’s Metro Market
Sydney fund manager Argus Property Partners is continuing to reweight its portfolio, divesting a Gold Coast shopping centre after seven years.
Metro Market at Biggera Waters, nine kilometres north of Surfers Paradise, is selling for $39.4m to a Melbourne based company, Biggera Vision, directed by Guohui Kuang and Wei Zhang.
Argus paid $23.01m.
Savills’ Jon Tyson brokered the latest off market deal.
The sale comes a week since we reported IJ Capital offloaded the Benowa Gardens shopping centre, four kilometres south west of Surfers Paradise, for $60.5m – reflecting a 4.99 per cent yield.
That seller paid Stockland $40.5m for the complex in early 2020 before renovating.
Metro Market
Over two levels, Metro Market contains 6967 square metres of lettable area – 35pc (2500 sqm) of which is offices.
Drakes is the anchor retail occupier with a 1490 sqm tenancy.
There are also 33 specialty stores.
The asset’s Weighted Average Lease Expiry is three years (story continues below).
At 33-47 Honeywell Road, with frontage to Fiona, Parr and Burrows streets, opposite BIggera Creek, the site spreads 1.1 hectares with over 400 car parks.
“The sale of Metro Market illustrates the wider demand for retail assets from all investor groups including private investors, property syndicates and fund managers,” Mr Tyson said.
“As Australia’s sixth largest city, the Gold Coast continues to attract significant retail investment capital, with this latest sale following a range of other major transactions including Benowa Gardens for $60.5m, in a deal also brokered by Savills, as well as stakes in Pacific Fair, Runaway Bay Village, Harbour Town and Westfield Helensvale totalling close to $3 billion,” he added.
“The strong fundamentals of south east Queensland, including population growth for the City of Gold Coast continues to drive increasing retail demand, which in turn has attracted established and new capital for retail assets,” according to the executive.
The deal comes 10 months since a Morayfield, Brisbane, healthcare asset delivered by Argus and Health Development Corporation sold to HMC Capital for its HealthCo REIT for $110m.
Also at that time, Argus paid HMC $28.55m for a HomeCo bulky goods investment – again in Morayfield.
Early last year, the fund manager spent $16.95m on a Bathurst HomeCo; once more HMC was the seller.
On the Gold Coast Argus owns multi-building commercial assets, Hope Island Central and Bermuda Point, at Varsity Lakes, held in separate trusts.
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