Bunbury Forum to grow under new owners

The Bunbury Forum’s new owner, Australian financial services company Challenger, will push ahead with plans for an additional 31,000sq m of retail space.

The sale of the centre, at $143.3 million, was signed on Thursday.

Challenger director of real estate transactions John Ratcliffe told the Bunbury Herald the company was “absolutely” looking to grow the centre.

“There has been a strong demand from potential tenants, we have already been fielding inquiries and we’ve only owned it for a day,” he said on Friday.

The deal comes after its previous owners, Atlas Point, made a failed bid to gain development approval for extra retail space for a department store.

The Bunbury City Council had backed the plan but the State Administrative Tribunal blocked the proposal in March.

The tribunal ruled the centre’s expansion to include a department store, believed to be either Myer or David Jones, would draw shoppers away from the Bunbury CBD.

Atlas Point, which also owns the Stirling Centre in the CBD, secured approval for a 31,000sq m expansion in 2010.

It sought an additional 5000sq m to anchor the redevelopment with a department store but the tribunal ruled it would be too harmful to CBD retailers.

Mr Ratcliffe said Challenger was aware of the efforts made by Atlas Point to gain approval for a department store but would not pursue the issue.

The WA Planning Commission, backed by the tribunal, had made a clear ruling which the company had no plans to challenge.

Mr Ratcliffe said Challenger had bought the centre after spending a lot of time with the vendor.

“The Bunbury area is really appealing to us because of its strong, diverse economy and growing population,” he said.

“These factors, coupled with the dominance of the centre and its proximity to the road networks, we saw it as an asset with a stable cash flow.”

According to the latest Shopping Centre News Little Guns Survey, Bunbury Forum has a moving annual turnover of more than $12,400 per square metre, making it the fourth strongest sub-regional shopping centre in Australia.