Chester Square offers the potential for significant residential development. Photo: Airphoto Australia

New record for retail: Nassif family snap up Chester Square for $68.5m

Larry Schlesinger|Apr 17, 2019

Sydney developers the Nassif family have snapped up the Chester Square Shopping Centre in the city’s outer south west for $68.5 million, setting a new national record low yield benchmark of 3.78 per cent for neighbourhood malls.

Led by Sarkis Nassif, the family run private developer Holdmark, whose projects include the $2 billion Shepherds Bay development at Ryde with 3000 apartments and the $500 million Majors Bay development at Mortlake in the inner west with 500 apartments.

Mr Nassif was recently named 2017 property person of the year by Urban Taskforce Australia. He could not be reached for comment.

The acquisition of Chester Square provides a platform for Holdmark to undertake a large mixed-use project with current zoning allowing for the development of 41,000 square metres of retail and apartments on the 1.7 hectare site, which is just 200 metres from the Chester Hill train station.

Currently the 1 Leicester Street site is home to a fully occupied 8270-square-metre mall anchored by a full-line Woolworths supermarket, two mini-majors and 28 specialty tenancies, as well as a large car park.

Any redevelopment above the car park would require approval from Woolworths, whose lease expires in 2027.

The sale of Chester Square was negotiated by James Wilson and Harry Bui from Colliers International who said they were bound by confidentiality agreements and could not identify the vendor or buyer.

Company searches by The Australian Financial Review revealed the buyer to be a newly created corporate entity associated with the Nassif family.

The vendor was Keystar Pty Ltd, whose directors include Golda Green, a member of Australia’s richest family, the Smorgons, and her husband, prominent Sydney dentist Dr Leslie Green.

The sales campaign for Chester Square generated over 200 inquiries from domestic and offshore investors, with six parties offering below a 4.25 per cent return, according to Colliers International.

“A local private investor provided more attractive terms to overcome a strong mix of competing domestic and offshore investors,” Mr Wilson said.

“The benchmark result, and extremely competitive nature of the Chester Square Shopping Centre campaign, highlights the market depth for prime freehold Sydney metropolitan retail opportunities,” he added.

“The result was 192 basis points sharper than the most recent Sydney metropolitan freehold neighbourhood shopping centre transaction, being Chipping Norton Market Plaza that sold for $30.5 million in July this year.”