Property billionaire Con Makris sells Adelaide shopping centre
Rich Lister and property billionaire Con Makris has sold a neighbourhood shopping centre in Adelaide in an off-market deal worth $35 million.
The Newton Village Shopping Centre was sold quietly late last year but only settled recently. It was bought by Sydney-based property group Revelop.
The group already owns South Australia’s Renmark Square shopping centre, which they bought from Charter Hall Retail REIT in 2017 for about $25 million.
The Newton Village Shoping Centre has a net lettable area of 9964 square metres and is anchored by a Woolworths and Coles supermarket. It houses 25 specialty stores, with a number of ATMs and kiosks.
The total area of the site is 20,200 square metres including 500 car spaces.
The property was sold by Marc Leiba and Jonathan Rosenthal of Leiba Commercial and Rino Carpinelli and Ryan Mills of Savills.
“The centre is in an affluent location of Adelaide and the sale of metro-located neighbourhood shopping centres such as this centre in Adelaide are very rare,” Mr Rosenthal said.
He said the new owners intended to put capital into Newton Village, with plans for a new medical centre.
Mr Leiba said that while the transaction had taken place before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were still active buyers in the market.
“Despite the uncertainty in the economic environment, there is still strong demand for well-established supermarket-anchored shopping centres, particularly in the inner metro areas of major cities,” Mr Leiba said.
Mr Makris, whose estimated personal fortune of $1.31 billion ranks him 69th on 2019’s Financial Review Rich List, is selling another retail property in Adelaide, Gilles Plains Shopping Centre, with price expectations of more than $60 million.
Mr Makris arrived in Adelaide as a teenager in 1964 from Greece before building up a vast property development and shopping centre empire after starting off with a chicken shop.
Mr Makris stepped back from the day-to-day operations of the Makris Group several years ago and put in place an independent advisory board to guide expansion, which has been focused on Queensland.
