Home Consortium will open the first ten refurbished Masters sites before the end of the year, kicking off a broader roll-out that will include three distinct centre formats.
The self-contained multi-tenant sites have attracted a range of national retail brands such as Nick Scali, Baby Bunting, Spotlight, Anaconda, Chemist Warehouse, Rebel Sport, BCF, Super Amart, JB-Hi-Fi and The Good Guys.
The first five sites will be launched in October and November, including locations in Rutherford and Penrith in NSW, Tingalpa and North lakes in Queensland and South Morang in Victoria.
Those centres have been separated into three formats encompassing daily needs, lifestyle and leisure, and homewares and related services – designed to cater towards local demographics, planning considerations and existing retail supply.
Eighty per cent of the more than 500,000 sqm of retail space is already leased and the remainder is covered under memoranda of understanding.
Home Consortium head and former UBS Australia managing director David Di Pilla, who led the acquisition of the Masters portfolio from Woolworths last year, said the formats have been designed on the profile of anchor tenants and designate the operational focus for each centre.
“The leasing success and ongoing lease enquiries we have achieved reflects the fact that retailers have been able to work with a single developer or landlord to plan and secure their store roll-out and growth strategy across a number of Australia’s key growth centres, nationally over the medium term,” he said.
“We have been encouraged by the enthusiastic and constructive response by local councils and state planning authorities to our re-development proposals and are pleased with the progess we continue to make given the wide range of locations and planning authorities involved.”
A further 20 sites are slated to open in 2018, with the remainder of the 82-centre portfolio to be launched in 2019.
The Home Consortium venture is being backed by the families behind Chemist Warehouse and Spotlight Group, alongside property investment and management group Primwest, which came onboard after the initial deal last November.
Cushman & Wakefield have been appointed to manage the centres nationally, while Colliers International has been appointed as the leasing agent for NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
Four construction firms have been engaged on the redevelopment of the initial centres, with further repurposing to be conducted over the next 18 months.
Once the openings are complete Home Consortium will be one of the largest large format land lords in the country, with 8,000 retail jobs expected to be created by the centres.
Read more about Home Consortium’s plans in this week’s magazine, out tomorrow.
Access exclusive analysis, locked news and reports with Inside Retail Weekly. Subscribe today and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.
