Stockland has today commenced work on the $33 million Stockland Baringa Shopping Centre development, the first of various shopping centres planned for Stockland’s $5 billion Aura community on the Sunshine Coast.
Aura is the largest masterplanned community ever undertaken in Australia under single ownership stretching across 24 square kilometre in Caloundra South on the Sunshine Coast. Upon completion in mid-2019, the neighbourhood centre will include a full line Supa IGA, 13 specialty retailers, approximately 300 car spaces, and commercial offices. Stockland also has future plans for a medical centre, swim school and family-friendly tavern.
Louise Mason, Group Executive and CEO of Commercial Property at Stockland, said: “We are excited to commence work on this new innovative retail town centre for this thriving Sunshine Coast community.
“Our vision is to create one of the best neighbourhood shopping centres in the state, offering customers a fantastic shopping experience with a go-to shopping destination tailored for their everyday convenience needs.”
“Stockland Baringa is positioned in a prime location within Baringa, the first suburb of Aura, servicing not only our Baringa residents but also the surrounding Bellvista and Bells Reach communities. Baringa also has a strong trade area population growth, which is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 9.3% to 30,000 by 2021.”
Artist impression of Stockland Baringa Gateway Entry
Sunshine Coast Council Mayor Mark Jamieson said he was pleased to see work commencing on this next phase of the Aura development. “The Sunshine Coast is experiencing high levels of business confidence as a result having a clear, dynamic and achievable plan for the future of the region’s economy,” Mayor Jamieson said. “Proceeding with developments like the Stockland Baringa Shopping Centre are a demonstration of confidence in the future of our region, as we grow our reputation as an idea location for innovation, investment and opportunity.”
The new Stockland Baringa shopping centre will be anchored by a 2,000m2 Supa IGA managed by successful Sunshine Coast operators Michael and Roz White of Whites IGA. The new cutting edge supermarket will be custom built utilising local manufacturers integrating the latest design features including a fresh food hall with in-store butcher and baker, an instore café, juice bar and cheese fromagerie wall.
Up to 10 families a week are moving into Baringa and construction has commenced on Aura Central, which will be the future heart of Aura featuring the City Centre, the extensive People’s Place parkland, a range of education and sporting facilities and a future employment precinct. Over the next 30 years, Aura will be home to around 50,000 people and is planned to include over 20,000 new homes, 2 business parks, 10 sporting grounds, 25 community facilities, 20 school/education facilities, 700 hectares of conservation and park areas and 200km of cycle ways and walking paths.
Stockland’s CEO Mark Steinert said: “We continue to strategically reposition our retail town centres, with a focus on customer experience and retail remixing towards growth categories, to ensure the resilience of our portfolio in this changing environment.
Highlights from Stockland’s 1Q19 MARKET UPDATE released today include:
· Stockland remains on track to achieve over 6,000 settlements for FY19, including 400 townhomes, with 1,293 net deposits for lots and townhomes during 1Q19 and 5,741 contracts on hand as at 30 September 2018.
· Stockland’s residential portfolio is skewed to the most resilient part of the market, with over 85% of sales for the period to owner occupiers.
· Stockland continues to benefit from a flight to affordable quality as the market moderates, with national market share rising from 11.4% in June 2017 to 14.5% in June 2018.
· Logistics leasing demand remains strong with 101,700 square metres of space leased over the quarter, and a further 243,300 square metres under heads of agreement
· Stockland continues to target up to an additional $400 million of retail divestments over the next 12-24 months
· The $87 million development of Stockland Birtinya remains on track to open the first stage in December, and work commenced on the $33 million Stockland Baringa retail town centre today, located within our award-winning Aura community on the Sunshine Coast.
· Stockland confirmed it remained on track to deliver profit in line with its guidance for FY19. Assuming no material change in market conditions, Stockland expects to achieve FFO per security growth of 5-7% for the full year and is targeting a distribution per security of 27.6 cents, representing 4% growth on FY18.
