Dexus acquires bigger Warringah Mall stake

Warringah Mall during a 2016 renovation.

Dexus managed Wholesale Property Fund (DWPF) has purchased an additional 25 per cent of Brookvale’s Westfield Warringah Mall.

The deal with AMP Capital Shopping Centre Fund is worth c$410 million.

DWPF picked up another quarter of the asset following a merger with the AMP Capital Diversified Fund (ADPF) in April.

SCentre owns the balance and is manager.

Warringah Mall

On 17.1 hectares, Warringah Mall was the country’s second biggest shopping centre when it was developed in 1963 (Chadstone Shopping Centre, in Melbourne, was and still is the largest).

About 15 kilometres north of Sydney, the asset includes 131,608 square metres of area; anchors include David Jones (with 20,100 sqm), Myer (14,864 sqm), Target (8157 sqm), Big W (7827 sqm), Hoyts Cinemas (5571 sqm) and Woolworths (5171 sqm).

Coles and Bunnings occupy sub-5000 sqm tenancies.

According to SCentre, the centre was valued at $1.875 billion three years ago (story continues below).

Warringah Mall in the 1970s.

The DWPF deal values it at $1.64b.

“This acquisition increases DWPF’s interest in a well performing super regional retail asset which is expected to benefit from embedded development opportunities,” fund manager Michael Sheffield said.

“[It] represents relative value compared to other asset classes in a post pandemic environment,” he added.

Two months ago, Dexus listed stakes in two more shopping centres picked up following the ADPF merger.

This includes a 20 per cent interest in Gold Coast’s Pacific Fair (valued at c$360m, based on the sale of the balance last month to Cbus and UniSuper), and a quarter of the $1.6b Macquarie Centre (half of which also traded, to the same buyers, in October).

Those assets, like Warringah Mall, have mixed-use development upside.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Share or Recommend article

Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.