IPGeneration makes quick profit on Imperial Centre Gosford shopping mall sale

The Imperial Centre Gosford has sold to a private group for $62.75m.

Funds house IPGeneration has made a hefty return on the sale of the Imperial Centre Gosford after picking it up as part of a $300m portfolio from billionaire Paul Lederer four years ago.

The company has sold the asset for $62.75m to a private group, giving it strong returns, as it paid about $31.69m when it bought it as part of the portfolio in 2021.

The centre on the NSW central coast changed hands after a competitive campaign that drew seven formal bids, marking the largest non-metro NSW neighbourhood centre deal since 2021.

Imperial Centre Gosford was sold by JLL’s Nick Willis, Sam Hatcher, David Mahood and Sebastian Fahey and Colliers’ James Wilson and Ben Wilkinson.

The three-level neighbourhood shopping centre, spanning 16,769sq m, is near Gosford train station on a 1.55ha landholding.

Mr Willis said the seven formal bids received showed the “growing competition for retail assets in today’s market”. He added: “With limited on-market supply and growing investor confidence, we’re seeing unprecedented demand for neighbourhood centres that offer scale, strong tenant covenants and strategic landholdings with development potential.”

The centre is anchored by Woolworths and BWS and supported by 53 specialty tenants, six kiosks, 14 office suites, three mini majors and an ATM, providing ­diversified income streams. While it is now in the hands of a private family, the Imperial Centre’s vendors had concept plans prepared by DKO Architects for a major mixed-use project featuring 478 residential apartments.

Mr Wilson said there was incredible buyer depth from domestic and offshore capital for strategically located neighbourhood shopping centres. “Purchasers were particularly attracted to maximising the centre’s mixed-use potential given it occupied a strategic 1.54ha site opposite a train station within Gosford’s rapidly evolving CBD,” he said.

Since 2019, non-metro NSW neighbourhood centres have experienced significant yield compression, with private investors dominating acquisition activity.

Recent transactions show that almost 80 per cent of non-metro neighbourhood centre purchasers since 2023 have been private investors, attracted by the sector’s defensive characteristics and limited new supply pipeline.

IPGeneration, which was acquired by MA Financial in May, has been capitalising on institutional demand for retail assets. It is in talks to buy the Hyperdome complex south of Brisbane for $700m and is also in due diligence on Top Ryde City in Sydney’s northwest for more than $500m.