Todd Pepper

Financier and multi-strategy alternative investment manager, Alceon, and its long-term partner CPRAM, a boutique property investment and advisory firm specialising in retail and mixed-use properties, have acquired the Smithfield Shopping Centre in the Cairns’ northern growth corridor in Far North Queensland for $138 million.

The strategic investment in a high-yielding regional retail asset in the rapidly-growing northern corridor of the Cairns CBD has been settled with the purchase price reflecting a per square metre rate of less than $4000 psm..

Smithfield Shopping Centre—comprising a gross lettable area of 34,786 sq m—is the third largest retail centre in Cairns and one of the best performing. Built in 1986, it was refurbished significantly in 2017-18.

The centre sits on a 12.4- hectare site on a high-exposure corner at the junction of the Captain Cook and Kennedy highways at Smithfield—14 kilometres north-west of the Cairns CBD – and has an existing development approval to add another 4400 sqm.

It has four anchor tenants— supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths as well as Kmart and Event Cinemas—eight mini-majors and more than 90 specialty shops with parking for 1500 vehicles.

Alceon Queensland executive director Todd Pepper said: “Cairns is an attractive investment proposition for Alceon and CPRAM, with the city experiencing a peak in gross regional product at $10.3 billion and its lowest unemployment rate on record of about four per cent”.

“In particular, the northern corridor, which is home to James Cook University, is enjoying a growth spurt with more than 2600 houses being added to its catchment area, which is forecast to have 1.8 per cent a year population growth rate in the Primary Trade Area up to 2026.”

CPRAM Managing Director Olivier Sicouri said “We are delighted to partner again with Alceon Queensland on the Smithfield Shopping Centre. This asset comes with an attractive weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of about five years (for both income and area) and presents an opportunity through active management to substantially increase its income, which we expect will make it an attractive investment in terms of tax-effective income and capital growth.”

Pepper added that regional retail assets typically offered higher returns than capital city centres but rarely were they institutional grade assets in growth corridors with development potential such as the Smithfield Shopping Centre.

“A bonus for Alceon, CPRAM and its investors is the centre’s value-add potential and history as a institutionally managed asset for more than 23 years, which are regularly renovated to stay in line with higher standards and regulations.”

The post Alceon acquires shopping centre in Cairns for $138 million appeared first on AdviserVoice.