Coles anchored mall selling to Woolworths
Woolworths is speculated to be buying another mall anchored to rival Coles – this time at The Entrance, on the Central Coast.
The Lakeside Shopping Centre, at the southern end of the Entrance Road retail strip, also with frontage to Dening and Taylor roads and Glovers Lane, is believed to be costing just over $51 million.
Vendor, Bob Dunnet’s Dunnet Properties, offered it permit ready for a $300m mixed use project with c400 apartments, a hotel and multi-purpose function space – a project first floated eight years ago.
Bob Ell’s Leda Holdings established the complex, with 5108 square metres, on a 2.1 hectare ex-oval with cricket pitch, in 1979.
The Entrance is about 105 kilometres north of Sydney’s CBD.
Keep enemies closer
Coles and Woolworths are amongst the most active development sites buyers, with activity seeming to have increased the last decade.
Each also own shopping centres where its rival supermarket brand is a tenant (including, the anchor), though more often than not, Coles and Woolworths are sellers, usually listing sites with long leasebacks.
At The Entrance, Woolworths is expected to take occupancy longer term, according to agency sources, potentially knocking out a store from the Coles network.
Woolworths’ nearest supermarket is at Bateau Bay, four kilometres south, where it also competes with a Coles.
The pair also compete at Tuggerah, 12km north west of Bateau Bay (story continues below).
Coles, meanwhile, has an outlet between these towns, at Chittaway Point.
A Lakeside Shopping Centre deal comes 10 months since Woolworths snapped up a Miranda mall, in outer south west Sydney, anchored to Coles until 2029, also with plans to occupy, possibly as part of a redevelopment.
A decade ago meanwhile, again in the New South Wales capital, Coles used a shelf company to buy a Neutral Bay supermarket occupied by Woolworths until next year.
The price – c$40m – was some 30pc over the then value.
As part of the rental agreement, Coles must provide Woolworths its sales records upon request.
In Melbourne, last year, Woolworths quietly snared a collection of Oakleigh sites in the process of being rezoned for high density development – for c$37.5m.
Covering c2.5ha, Woolworths is expected to anchor the retail component of a redevelopment.
The pair have also been buying up properties in inner south east Balaclava, with a catchment including St Kilda East.
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