Tom Gannon
THE home of Coles Morwell is expected to fetch upwards of $20 million after going on the market this week.
The 1.1 hectare site on George Street, Morwell is currently secured by a 15-year net lease to the supermarket giant and is also home to seven other businesses along George Street including Morwell Fish and Chips and Podicare Shoes.
The 5265 sqm shopping centre also includes the undercroft car park which provides 259 car parking spaces.
More than 90 per cent of the gross rent is secured by Coles and Liquorland, who recently undertook a $5 million store refurbishment in 2018.
The sale is being headed by JLL Retail Investments who say the commercial property should garner a high amount of interest and a sale price in the high $20 million mark.
“It’s a great product, the Coles is performing extremely well, it’s had a recent refurbishment back in 2018 so the building looks a lot better, the supermarket has been improved and it really benefits from being the only supermarket in the commercial heart of Morwell,” JLL director of retail investments Tom Noonan said.
According to Mr Noonan, the commercial real estate market in regional areas has experienced a significant boost following changes brought on by last year’s coronavirus pandemic.
“The market within the retail sub-sector has been highly popular with investors,” Mr Noonan said.
“There’s been an increased focus on the region which I think is based on population growth off the back of last year.
“People were making decisions about where they want to spend their time and the ability from some groups to work from home means they can commute from the likes of Morwell for a couple of days a week when they might not have previously wanted to do that.
“A boost in population means a boost for retail spending in these areas. Further to that is the government’s current incentive around stamp duty concessions for commercial property which has certainly been a driver of interest.”
The concession was implemented as part of the state government’s coronavirus relief measures and sees stamp duty reduced by 50 per cent for commercial, industrial and extractive industry properties in regional areas.
The site was listed on Tuesday, April 20 along with the Eastwood Village shopping centre in Bairnsdale.
Both properties are being sold by separate private investors via public expressions of interest.
