Geelong West shopping centre listed with development upside

Pakington Strand shopping centre has been listed for sale.

Sellers are talking up the development potential for a Geelong West shopping centre where Woolworths holds the anchor lease with options until 2079.

Pakington Strand has been listed for sale among a $60m collection of retail assets across regional Victoria, with Stonebridge agents Kevin Tong and Justin Dowers and Colliers’ Tim McIntosh and James Wilson seeking offers by December 5.

A Coles supermarket at Warrnambool and an Officeworks-anchored Shepparton retail hub have also been listed through Colliers and Stonebridge.

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The Pakington St shopping centre last traded for $31.8m in 2016 so would be expected to sell significantly higher than that. It occupies a 20,984sq m site at the corner of Waratah St and Pakington St, part of the former Kinnears ropeworks.

Pakington Strand shopping centre at 95-103 Pakington Street, Geelong West, is on the market.

The sellers, Bai Fu Xin family have talked up the development potential of the property, which is identified as a strategic site under an urban design framework.

“Pakington Strand represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to Geelong’s economic future for any developer whose focus is on Victoria’s second major city,” the family said in a statement.

Anchored by the full-line Woolworths supermarket, plus 13 specialty shops, three kiosks and an ATM, the centre provides strong trading income.

The centre is fully leased, with Woolworths holding a 28-year lease with options to 2079.

Mr McIntosh said it was a strong investment with significant upside.

“You’re dealing with landholding that’s fundamentally on Pakington St in excess of 2ha,” Mr McIntosh said.

Pakington Strand shopping centre at 95-103 Pakington Street, Geelong West, is on the market.

“There’s no other sites (on Pakington St) that are offering this scale with that mixed use potential and knowing that’s going over 400m of frontage as well.

“What there is a really strong-performing Woolworths in that shopping centre but there is substantial, underlying landholding that can be unlocked by the future purchaser.”

Mr McIntosh said the property was attracting high net work interest from across Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as potential institutional and offshore buyers.

“It’s a really strong location, the fact that you’ve got a Woolworths trading exceptionally well and representing about 74 per cent of the GLA means from a pure investment perspective, that works really well.

“Being in Geelong West, the underlying land value component provides both outcomes for redevelopment and short term value drivers as well.”

Pakington Strand shopping centre in Geelong West is for sale, with sellers talking up its development potential.

The mixed-use zone offers the possibility for a major development comprising retail, commercial and residential uses, given it’s relatively low 25 per cent site coverage.

Future development could take site coverage up to 60 per cent, the agents stated.

The partially adopted Pakington St and Gordon Ave Urban Design Framework identified Pakington Strand as a strategic site allowing a mix of four-storey and six-storey buildings in prescribed positions.

But a new consultation process is set to reshape the urban design framework for the Pakington St North Precinct, which starts at Waratah St, after Geelong’s council logged the significant reaction to proposed building heights, level of development and traffic and parking.

Pakington Strand shopping centre in Geelong West is for sale, with sellers talking up its development potential.

City of Greater Geelong revealed a diverse 60-member panel would “co-design” with the City a new framework for the north precinct at a series of workshops run by an independent facilitator in 2024, which will be presented to the council for review.