Big box retailer Costco to open fourth Australian store in Brisbane
Bulk-buying mecca Costco will be opening its fourth store in Brisbane at Stockland's North Lakes Business Park.
Preliminary planning approval was give earlier this month for the 14,000-square-metre store with 750 car spaces on the seven-hectare site on the corner of Boundary Road and the M1.
The Birsbane outlet, which is set to sell petrol, will be the company's fourth store in Australia since 2009.
"We'd like to find the right area for the South Brisbane market, on the Gold Coast downtown or perhaps west of Brisbane," Costco managing director Patrick Noone told the Courier Mail.
IKEA has announced plans for its second Brisbane superstore at the Westfield precinct at North Lakes, but awaits Morton Bay Regional Council approval.
CBRE recently reported the south-east Queensland bulky goods sector was set for growth during 2012.
CBRE director Craig Godber says around 66,000 square metres of new bulky goods supply is anticipated for 2012.
“This figure represents a 10% increase in new supply compared with 2011, a clear example of the sector’s ongoing recovery,” Godber says.
The supply will be dominated by the roll-out of further new Masters Hardware superstores and a number of new Bunnings stores in response.
There are at least a dozen new Masters and Bunnings stores tipped for the south-east Queensland retail supply pipeline for 2012 and 2013.
Masters Hardware stores planned include Bremer, North Lakes, Upper Coomera and Stafford, while Bunnings has stores underway or planned for locations including Arundel, Oxenford and inner city Newstead.
CBRE associate director of retail services Damian Crocetti says a 27,660-square-metre Harvey Norman-anchored centre will be completed in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast.
“This is significant, as it will be the first major new bulky goods centre in south-east Queensland since 2009,” Crocetti says.
The Gold Coast is also an area of focus, with the highly anticipated 10,451-square-metre Bundall Road Homemaker Centre proposed for completed in late 2013.
According to Crocetti, these developments are contributing to an optimistic outlook for the region.
“South-east Queensland has the population to support growth in the bulky goods sector in the medium to long term as the market recovers from the recent economic downturn and natural disasters,” Crocetti adds.
On the investment front, the report notes that after an extended period of limited activity (with just three major sales in the 12 months to June 2011), several major transactions totaling $177.5 million were recorded in the second half of 2011.
These included the $61.5 million acquisition of a 50% share in the Domain Central complex in Townsville by the Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust – the largest bulky goods transaction in Queensland since 2005.
Other sales completed during the period included The Zone Underwood ($23 million), The Zone Rothwell ($25.75 million) and Bundaberg Homemaker Centre ($10.5 million).
