Commercial and residential property news
SHOPPING centre giant Westfield has come under attack from Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk.
Mr Quirk said Westfield’s decision to charge for parking at the Westfield Chermside shopping centre after three hours was “a slap in the face” for residents.
The changes, to be introduced in October, should make the car park more efficient and “maximise space for genuine shoppers”, according to a Westfield representative.
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WESTFIELD Group is reportedly considering buying the Wynyard Complex in the Sydney CBD.
The purchase from Thakral Holdings is for a reported $250 million and includes a small retail centre with access to George Street and which forms a concourse entrance to the Wynyard train station.
The asset also includes the 446-room Menzies Hotel, the Thakral House office building and a 335 bay car park, according to selling agency Jones Lang LaSalle.
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AMP Capital Investors, with the Westfield Group, are set to redevelop the Macquarie Centre which they co-own in Sydney’s north.
The shopping centre upgrade will be the biggest undertaken in New South Wales for about ten years.
It will add a new David Jones store, a national supermarket chain and about 150 specialty stores – in a 30,000 square metre extension. Macquarie Centre is currently 96,500 square metres.
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TWO of Australia’s biggest property players, Westfield Group and Lend Lease (which controls the Australian Prime Property Fund), are planning to sell the Cairns Central shopping centre they own together.
The complex was at the centre of a legal dispute that Westfield and Lend Lease eventually took to court.
It includes about 180 stores including major tenants Myer, Target, Coles, Bi-Lo (which like Coles is part of the Wesfarmers Group) and a Birch, Carroll and Coyle cinema.
IN THE east Melbourne suburb of Doncaster, a Manningham City Council has suggested long-time dweller Westfield financially contribute to an infrastructure project designed to cope with the traffic it will permit for development along the eastern corridor.
Cr Stephen Mayne this week said the Sydney based property company would be the biggest beneficiary of a train line to Doncaster Shoppingtown – currently Westfield’s third best centre measured by sales, after Bondi Junction in Sydney and Chermside in Brisbane.
The Eastern Golf Course nearby has also been sold to a developer (Mirvac) and is expected to be replaced with a $1 billion residential-based village with apartment, office and hotel towers, and streets built around fairways, once an orchard.
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WESTFIELD’s landmark $1.2 million Sydney City shopping centre has secured retailers Gap, Mulberry and DKNY Jeans as tenants. The massive
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SYDNEY based shopping centre giant Westfield has sold an open-air car park abutting the Doncaster shopping centre’s north-east boundary.
The 5457 square metre site with a street address of 1 Grosvenor Street is believed to have sold for about $10 million after a public marketing campaign.
Westfield offered the site with a permit for a 185-unit apartment complex penned by boutique architect firm Rothelowman. The site, which backs onto the Saxon Reserve, was marketed by Knight Frank Glen Waverley’s Ken Smirk, Paul Henley and Todd Schaffer who declined to comment when contacted by The Age.
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TWO major corporates have signed major new leases in Sydney, signalling a shift in sentiment to the CBD office market.
Investment bank JP Morgan will be the anchor tenant for a new building at 85 Castlereagh Street, due for completion in 2012. JP Morgan will take 16,700 square metres of the new tower, to be developed by Westfield over its its Sydney City development.
Investment manager State Street ha also committed to new offices, agreeing to a 10-year lease at Fortius Fund Management’s $400 million George Street building, due for completion in September. Lend Lease managed Australian Prime Property Fund is also developing that building.
Westfield joint managing director Peter Lowy said the company performed better than expected, announcing the company’s six-months earnings.
Below is a copy of the group’s half year operational earnings, and full-year forecast:
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RETAIL giant Westfield has successfully lobbied against plans by Geelong-based builder and investor Costa Group to rezone a prominent collection of Moolap properties, including what was once a major indoor tennis centre.
Westfield, along with shopping centres Newcomb Central, Bellarine Village and local businesses argued to the Greater Geelong City Council that a rezoning request pitched by Costa – which could have allowed it to build a big shopping centre – would negatively affect designated Activity Centres allocated around Geelong’s suburbs.
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