Coles acquires Balaclava supermarket at sub 2pc yield
Coles Group Property Developments has quietly purchased the Balaclava supermarket it has occupied for some five decades.
The retailer is understood to be paying $80 million, reflecting a sub two per cent yield – believed to be a record for a property of this type – for 54 Camden Street, on the south east corner of Alfred, and car park, behind the Carlisle St retail strip.
Zoned Commercial 1, the asset holds significant high density residential development upside.
The vendors were local businessmen Ari, Myer and David Herszberg, who via a company, Blue Chip Property Holdings, outlaid $8.32m for the building in November, 2000.
In a separate deal, Coles is speculated to be paying over $15m for neighbouring properties connecting the supermarket to Carlisle St, all up giving it over 1.5 acres in the pocket.
The acquisitions come 15 months since Fabcot, the development arm of rival Woolworths, outlaid $6.6m for a 1831 square metre car park across the road, 37-47 Camden St, behind one of its supermarkets.
Balaclava, with the same postcode as St Kilda East, is six kilometres south east of Melbourne.
Coles lodged a caveat for 54 Camden Street on Valentine’s Day (story continues below).
Supermarkets reweigh portfolios
The Balaclava acquisition comes two years since Coles banked $33.6m from Colin Delutis’ DeGroup for a Woodend store, 70 kilometres north west of Melbourne, a result which reflected a 4.3 per cent return.
Fabcot, meanwhile, last year picked up a series of outgoing car yards covering 2.04ha in Oakleigh, south east of the CBD, outlaying over $37m.
With frontage to Dandenong and Park roads, that land is the subject of a rezoning which would allow a mixed use project with high density residential.
Woolworths also recently launched a campaign for a joint venture partner to develop a mixed-use project, again with apartments, and a lower level outlet it will occupy, on a former ABC studio in Elsternwick, neighbouring Balaclava, which it acquired for $51.7m in mid-2017.
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