The highly successful Harbour Town Premium Outlets, Adelaide’s only purpose-built outlet shopping centre, is being offered for sale for the first time on behalf of Lewis Land Group.
The decision to sell by Australia’s oldest private property developer follows significant appreciation in the value of the Lewis Land Group’s retail assets and will allow for a rebalancing of the Group’s portfolio.
Lewis Land Group CEO Matthew McCarron said, “As a leading Australian property developer and owner, our portfolio of assets is always evolving. Our priority as a family-owned business is to continuously explore opportunities for growth over the long term.
“Given the quality of our assets, we often receive enquiries from prospective purchasers. Harbour Town Adelaide is no exception, and we can confirm the centre – which is Adelaide’s only purpose-built outlet – is being offered for sale,” said McCarron.
CBRE’s Pacific Head of Retail Capital Markets, Simon Rooney, has been appointed to manage the sale of the highly regarded centre, one of Adelaide’s best-performing retail assets.
The open-air centre occupies a significant 97,500m2 land holding, which is strategically located on the western boundary of Adelaide Airport.
“Harbour Town Adelaide is one of just 17 outlet centres across the country, with only 11 major, comparable transactions having occurred in the past decade,” Rooney said.
“The sale provides an opportunity for investors to gain immediate scale in the highly sought after but rarely traded outlet shopping sub-sector, which benefits from greater trading resilience during downturns and continues to demonstrate outperformance given its discount-based offering.”
Harbour Town Premium Outlets occupies a significant land holding strategically located on the western boundary of Adelaide Airport
Developed by Lewis Land Group in 2004, the Adelaide centre is home to 118 outlet stores, including the largest Nike Unite and Tommy Hilfiger outlets in Australia. The centre recently welcomed Adelaide’s first super-sized premium outlet store. Other retailers in the 28,544m2 centre include Polo Ralph Lauren, Coach and Calvin Klein.
In addition to its outstanding tenancy profile, the centre benefits from abundant, easily accessible parking for 1,480 vehicles and recently underwent a $12 million upgrade, which has enhanced its robust trading fundamentals.
“Harbour Town represents a rare opportunity to buy into a high-performing outlet retail centre with exciting future growth prospects,” Rooney said.
“The attractive tenant profile is underpinned by strong trading specialty tenants, reporting outstanding specialty productivity of $10,014/m2 on highly sustainable rents, providing a platform for attractive rental growth.”
“Outlet centres serve a much broader trade area than traditional retail centres and, in the case of Harbour Town Adelaide, the existing trade area population of 1.3 million residents as at June 2022, is forecast to grow by 1.1% per annum to reach 1.4 million residents by 2032. Over the same period, retail expenditure in the area is forecast to grow from $19.4 billion to $28.2 billion, representing annual growth of 3.8%.”
Rooney also noted, “There continues to be considerable interest in Adelaide’s retail investment sector from both domestic and offshore investors, who have acquired circa $990 million of retail assets in recent years. This interest has been underpinned by Adelaide’s retail yield spread relative to Sydney and Melbourne and South Australia’s stamp duty exemption on commercial transactions.”
Harbour Town Premium Outlets Adelaide Regional Marketing Manager, Tanya Demaria and True Alliance Brand Outlet Retail Operations Manager, Anna Bretterecker
Lewis Land Group has a proven track record of successful developments and a storied reputation in the Australian property market. The Group’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and sustainability has been a key driver of its growth over more than 65 years.
