Shopping Centre

Charter Hall’s listed retail trust has snapped up Rockdale Plaza in Sydney’s south for $142 million and tapped the market for $150 million as investors back the future of well-located retail centres that can survive the onslaught of e-commerce.

The top echelons of Australian shopping centres are defying the retail gloom, producing strong growth sales in the face of an industry-wide slump driven by sluggish department store sales and the collapse of a series of fashion retailers.

Diversified property group Stockland has offloaded two Queensland shopping centres for $143 million as it pushes ahead with plans to sell off about $400 million worth of retail assets.

Forget about dining and entertainment precincts at shopping centres — Australian consumers really want more carparking, and cheaper parking to boot.

It may be a turn of the tide for shoppers who shy away from public toilets.

The listed Elanor Investors Group has set up a new managed fund to acquire the Neeta City shopping centre in the Sydney suburb of Fairfield for $85.3 million.

The rush of shopping centres being launched onto the market in the Geelong region remains frenzied, with the Woolworths-anchored Curlewis Shopping Centre at Clifton Springs the latest to be put up for sale.

Shopping centre owners have tried pop-up stores, water parks, even an indoor ski run to attract shoppers. Now a mall landlord is turning to the cannabis plant.

Turn the corner into the luxury precinct at Melbourne’s Chadstone shopping centre and a scene from Crazy Rich Asians could easily be unfolding.