Myer family sells stake in Myer on Bourke Street
Global funds manager TH Real Estate has bought out the Myer family’s one-third stake in the flagship Myer store on the Bourke Street mall in Melbourne in a $151.3 million deal.
The investment manager acquired the stake in the imposing nine-storey building on behalf of financial services giant TIAA.
It is now a co-investor in the Bourke Street department store alongside the listed Vicinity Centres and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC.
“The acquisition fits our strategy of owning dominant, well-located, prime retail properties that cater to today’s occupier needs, in the world’s most attractive real estate markets,” said Stephen Philp, TH Real Estate’s head of capital transactions in Australia.
“The property’s location at the centre of the strengthening core retail precinct in the Melbourne CBD is supportive of Myer’s long term occupancy of its flagship store.”
The historic building, built in 1914, comprises close to 40,000 square metres. It was fully refurbished in 2011 and is occupied entirely by Myer.
Directly behind the Bourke Street mall building, is a second building, owned in equal shares by by Vicinity and GIC, which was gutted and transformed in Emporium Melbourne.
TH Real Estate is one of the world’s largest retail real estate investors with more than $42 billion of retail assets globally.
This Bourke Street deal represents its third foray into Australia retail sector, after acquiring Greenwood Plaza in North Sydney and Mount Ommaney in Brisbane.
The Myer family office has held the stake in the Bourke Street building on behalf of the Myers and other families.
It joined its co-investors in the Bourke Street property in a broader $1.1 billion deal in 2007. As part of that deal the Lonsdale Street property was taken over and redeveloped by GIC and the property trust now known as Vicinity.
