LaSalle dominates Forest Lakes retail

The LaSalle Australia Core Plus Fund has gone shopping on the outskirts of Brisbane, acquiring a two-level retail and commercial property in Forest Lake for $11 million.

The 200 Grand Ave property adjoins the fund’s existing investment in the Forest Lake Shopping Centre, ensuring LaSalle Australia Core Plus Fund’s domination of the suburb’s retail precinct.

It also occupies a key corner location within Forest Lake, which was Brisbane’s first master planned community, located about 19km west of the CBD.

The complex has a lettable area of 2177sqm and comprises a total of 25 tenants, including key tenants Ray White, Dominos Pizza, Sushi Go Round, Kumon and H&R Block, amongst a diverse mix of national and local retailers.

CBRE manager retail investments Michael Hedger, who negotiated the sale alongside Nick Willis on behalf of a local private investor, says: “We received strong interest from private investors and local syndication groups, who are chasing retail centres that offer value-add opportunities via proactive management and tenant remixing”.

Queensland’s retail market has continued to strengthen in recent months, with the state recording $1.1 billion of sales in the first six months of the year, according to a recent Colliers International’s Retail Investment Review.

That headline figure includes LaSalle Australia Core Plus Fund’s own $85 million acquisition of the Big Top Shopping Centre on the Sunshine Coast in June this year – the fifth largest retail deal in Queensland in the first half of the year.

The fund purchased the Maroochydore sub-regional centre from Reed Property Group’s Reed Metro Trust 1, after it completed a $20 million revitalisation of the centre, transforming it to incorporate traditional market days with local farmers.

Speaking about the 200 Grand Ave deal, CBRE senior negotiator retail investments Nick Willis says: “The LaSalle Australia Core Plus Fund viewed this as a strategic opportunity to control the Forest Lake master planned retail precinct, given their ownership of the adjoining Forest Lake Shopping Centre”.

The sub-regional Forest Lake Shopping Centre underwent a $30 million refurbishment several years ago to include a Coles supermarket and Target discount department store.