Dubbo's Riverdale Shopping Centre bought by 'private investor'

Sentinel managing director Warren Ebert said the decision to sell the shopping centre with "expansion potential" was based on the strategy of "buying at an opportune time and then selling based on our view of the market".

A "private investor" has bought what Sentinel calls a "high-performing regional neighbourhood shopping centre" with a yield of 7.26 per cent.

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It is anchored by Woolworths and Reading Cinemas.

Riverdale Shopping Centre was the first acquisition for the open-ended Sentinel Countrywide Retail Trust when it was purchased from Charter Hall in October 2014.

Mr Ebert said the shopping centre was almost fully leased, with Woolworths taking up a five-year option in 2019.

"Riverdale Shopping Centre is in the main street of Dubbo and as well as Woolworths it has the only cinema within 100 kilometres, making it an entertainment destination not only within the main trade area but also the broader region," he said.

"This has been an excellent asset for Sentinel with Dubbo being a key transport and logistics hub servicing a huge area of NSW with a retail catchment of about 200,000 people plus visitors."

Mr Ebert highlighted Sentinel's hands-on management of assets.

"One of Sentinel's points of difference in the competitive retail sector is its hands-on management of its properties by experienced onsite executives with specialist retail skills," he said.

"This value-add expertise is evident across our assets in the Countrywide Retail Trust which are managed aggressively while we have also undertaken refurbishment and expansion projects."

Brisbane-based Sentinel has a national portfolio of more than 50 retail, industrial, office, land, tourism infrastructure and agribusiness assets worth more than $1.2 billion in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

Savills Australia negotiated the sale of Riverdale Shopping Centre which can let 6156 square metres and has 299 car parking spaces

Its national director of retail investments, Steven Lerche, said it should provide the "necessary confidence there is a market for regionally located neighbourhood shopping centre investments with strong underlying convenience retail characteristics".

"Despite the challenging retail environment, assets are still transacting, particularly neighbourhood centres, largely due to their affordability and exposure to non-discretionary retail," he said.