RAM pays $46m for Ballina Central

Ballina Central shopping mall.
Ballina Central shopping mall.

Investment firms Alceon and CP Retail have sold their northern NSW shopping centre to the RAM Australia Property Fund for $46.25 million, a 60% rise on the purchase price five years ago.

The Ballina Central shopping centre was bought by the two firms in late 2014 for $28.4 million, with its latest sale showing a tight passing yield of 7%.

Alceon and CP Retail acquired Ballina Central in September 2011, and significantly remixed and repositioned it.

Alceon has been freshening up its property portfolio, including another recent sale this month of a north Brisbane shopping centre it co-owned with Taylor Bridge Capital for $25.5 million.

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Alceon executive director Damien Cronin says the sale price for Ballina Central was largely the result of changes to the shopping centre’s mix of retailers.

“Investment demand for secure yield is strong and as a result of the improvements in the tenancy mix, the WALE (lease expiry) and retail sales performance of the centre achieved by CP Retail, we were pleased with the positive response and outcome achieved for our investors,” he says.

The 14,174sqm shopping centre sits on 4.46ha of land and was marketed by CBRE agent Peter Rossi and the Stonebridge Property Group’s Phil Gartland and Jonathon Fox.

It is anchored by a Ritchie’s supermarket and a Big W with two mini majors, 20 specialty tenants, a freestanding Woolworths/Caltex petrol station and a Hungry Jacks outlet.

In another major deal, builder ADCO sold Brisbane’s Banyo Retail Centre for $34 million to a private company. The sale of the Woolworths-anchored centre, which carries a long-term lease, was handled by CBRE’s Rossi and Joe Tynan.

Earlier this week, the Ashmore City shopping centre, which had been put to market by receivers, sold via Jacob Swan and Sam Hatcher of JLL for about $35 million.

The centre was unsuccessfully marketed last year by Engage Capital.