One of Australia’s top-performing sub-regional centres has transacted to Charter Hall’s new convenience retail fund (CCRF) following an off-market expressions of interest campaign exclusively managed by Stonebridge Property Group’s Justin Dowers, Kevin Tong and Carl Molony. The landmark $210 million sale underscores the depth of capital targeting defensive, non-discretionary retail assets in core metropolitan locations.
Located 17 km east of the Melbourne CBD, Burwood One Shopping Centre is a dominant, convenience-based sub-regional asset occupying a prominent 58,800 sqm Commercial 1 zoned landholding at the corner of Burwood Highway and Blackburn Road. The Centre benefits from its proximity to Deakin University and the planned Suburban Rail Loop East.
The fully leased Centre is anchored by Australia’s first Kmart (trading 24/7), Australia’s only 24-hour Coles supermarket and ALDI, supported by seven mini-majors, 40 specialty stores and eight kiosks.
Justin Dowers, National Partner at Stonebridge, said:
“Burwood One is one of Australia’s highest-performing sub-regional assets. Opportunities of this scale, trading strength and land-rich character are exceptionally rare in metropolitan Melbourne. The level of engagement from qualified capital highlights the market’s appetite for non-discretionary focused centres with long-term growth potential.
Nationally, retail transaction activity has accelerated significantly, with major retail investment transactions year-to-date exceeding $9 billion, an uplift of 20% on the previous year and the second-highest transaction period in over a decade. The increased capital flow into retail is being driven by an understanding from investors that strong population growth, combined with a constrained supply pipeline will drive rental growth moving forward.”
Kevin Tong, Partner at Stonebridge, added:
“We’re seeing a clear trend of capital recycling among the Asian investors who first entered the Australian retail market between 2015 and 2020. Similar to our Burwood One vendor, who acquired the asset in 2018, many of these groups are now divesting and redeploying capital into similar assets or alternative retail sectors. In other cases, they’re repositioning out of assets that no longer align with their evolving investment mandates.
This reflects not only renewed confidence in the Australian retail market, but also the increasing maturity and sophistication of offshore capital active in the sector. Recent examples of this trend include Pakington Strand Shopping Centre, acquired in 2016 and sold in 2024, and Arena Shopping Centre, purchased in 2017 and sold in 2023, further evidence of Asian investors reshaping and realigning their portfolios as the market evolves.”
The sale of Burwood One is one of only three sub-regional transactions over $200 million nationally in the past five years, and one of only a handful ever recorded.
Related Articles
