Retail property in Subiaco is on the downswing, but the looming loss of football may not necessarily be the death-knell for Rokeby Road’s retail strip.
Retail property in Subiaco is on the downswing, but losing the football stadium may not necessarily be the death-knell for Rokeby Road’s retail strip.
THE City of Subiaco is preparing for life after football, focusing on increasing residential density and investing in infrastructure, as well as public art and events designed to get more people into the suburb.
The city recently appointed ‘place manager’ Matthew Gould to work with the business community and look at the broader economic strategy in a post-football landscape.
Mr Gould said the city hoped its new place-management model would provide the catalyst for change, ahead of AFL games shifting to a new stadium in Burswood for the 2018 football season.
“Rather than just waiting for retail to pick up, we’ll be taking a place-driven approach to planning within the town centre, and increasing our investment and efforts in infrastructure, public art, events, transport, business development and so on,” he said.
“There’s also a need to identify our market identity. Yes, there are vacant shops, but that provides the opportunity to target what should go where.”
Mr Gould said $3.5 million had been allocated towards town centre projects in the city’s 2014-15 budget, while the council was also committed to increasing the vibrancy of Subiaco through new developments and renovations.
Key projects identified by Mr Gould are the redevelopment of the Ace Cinemas site at 500 Hay Street into a 217-bed hotel, which would also include office space, retail premises and new cinemas, as well as a new office, and residential space under construction at 208-212 Bagot Road.
Another site expected to contribute greatly to any revitalisation of Subiaco is the Pavilion Markets, which is the subject of an application for a 16-storey mixed-use development that was referred to the Western Australian Planning Commission by Planning Minister John Day midway through last year.
“You only have to look at the number of cranes in the Subiaco sky this week to know there is a lot of work going on,” Mr Gould said.
“The population of Perth is growing and we’re on track to exceed our requirement for 3,600 new dwellings by 2031.
“A growing population can only help sustain visitors.”
Subiaco Business Association president Geoff Parnell said he expected the loss of the AFL would be a significant setback for the suburb’s retailers and hospitality operators.
Mr Parnell called on the City of Subiaco to usher in changes to its planning scheme to allow for taller buildings to provide higher density residential and commercial development in the city centre.
“It’s about matching up your planning guidelines with the opportunities that might be there, and certainly there are some changes that are needed to some of the planning guidelines that Subiaco has to offer that flexibility,” Mr Parnell said.
“There is a group of councillors that is very keen to retain the historic village nature of Subiaco, and there are some valid aspects to that.
“It’s about finding the right mix of commercial and residential, and to make it work you have to go beyond four or five levels.”
CBRE senior manager of retail services Craig Olde said high street shopping districts, particularly Rokeby Road, had been struggling to attract interest for some years, largely because the CBD had supplanted it as an after-work entertainment district.
“Subiaco has been in a plateau for a while, but it’s a high street near the CBD in the western suburbs, near the centre of the wealth demographic, so how long can you hold it down?” he said.
Mr Olde dismissed the notion that the exit of football would result in the closure of more retailers, saying successful shops would survive in a changing landscape.
“Whatever happens with the oval going into the future might actually produce a more balanced retail mix in Subiaco anyway,” he said.
“There’s bits of infill going on in Subiaco, bringing in new residential, the office market is still continuing to mature, so I think in the long-run, Subiaco is going to be fine.”
That view was echoed by Christos Tsokos, principal of Subiaco-based real estate agent Tsokos Property, who recently closed the $1.6 million sale of a retail premises at 269 Rokeby Road.
Mr Tsokos said he received five separate offers for the property, which is tenanted by the Kookery food store and cafe.
“There is good interest, but people aren’t going to be paying ridiculous amounts to get property, because retail is pretty tough at the moment, especially from Bagot Road to Roberts Road,” Mr Tsokos told Business News.
“That’s where you see a lot of vacancies and for lease signs.
“But this is at the other end of Rokeby Road where it’s a bit different, the rates per square metre aren’t as high, and therefore the rents aren’t as high.”
