Fairfield’s Neeta City shopping centre tipped to fetch about $90 million

The three-storey property on the corner of Nelson Street and Court Road occupies a 2.22-hectare site and is anchored by Big W and Woolworths. The annual net income is estimated to be more than $7 million when the 86 retail tenancies are fully leased.

Neeta City was extensively redesigned before it sold in 1996. Photo: Jim Rice

Built in 1990 by Neeta Group, it was sold to the Sydney-based Hayson family in 1994 after Neeta collapsed.

The Haysons redesigned the mall and reconfigured the tenancy mix between 1994 and 1996, before reselling it for more than triple the price they had bought it for.

While no planning proposals have yet been lodged, the site has been earmarked by Fairfield Council for potential mixed-use rezoning, increased building heights to about 18 storeys and a higher floor-space ratio in its recent urban design study.

The site could potentially yield between 595 and 660 residential units across about 75,000 square metres of overall gross floor area on the site, subject to council approval. Residential development could also include seniors and affordable housing.

The study also recommends the site, currently zoned for commercial core land use, to be redeveloped into a mix of podium and mid-rise buildings, as well as taller towers on the site’s perimeters.

A through-site link for pedestrians connecting Smart Street and Court Road and a 1200-square-metre central square are also part of the draft plans.

Selling agent Lachlan MacGillivray called the property “a rare value-add centre”.

“This stability (of the holding income) allows investors time to finalise a strategy to unlock the 2.22-hectare CBD site’s full potential,” he said.

“Improved economic conditions and retail market fundamentals are underpinning strong investor demand for Australian retail assets; especially premium assets with exposure to non-discretionary spending, which are supported by population growth.”

Co-agent James Wilson said investors and developers consider both the retail fundamentals and the underlying land potential to be significant.

“Looking forward, the retail property market is expected to remain competitive with well-located, strong-performing assets continuing to attract strong appetite from both local and overseas investors,” he said.

Shopping centres have been a hot topic recently, following Vicinity Centres’ sale of 11 malls for a combined $631 million. Ten across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia sold to SCA Property Group, and Belmont Village in Victoria was acquired by a private investor for $58 million.