What Does it Take to Achieve 100% Occupancy of a Centre?

Shopping centres are hives of activity with retailer movement and new opportunity present more often than not.

But, not for all. A selection of Vicinity assets have enjoyed the status of being members of the 100% Club, meaning every available space at that asset is leased, offering the local community the full selection of retail and amenity.

It sounds easier than it is but to achieve 100% leased space, it requires vision and collaboration between Leasing and asset teams.

One of the 100% Club centres is Eastlands, and we sat down with three of the team from Leasing, Mall Leasing and Leasing Design & Delivery to find out a bit more about the leasing process, their highlights and the broader teams who help make this happen.

Can you tell us a bit about Eastlands and the retailer mix? 

AARON: Eastlands is the largest shopping centre in Tasmania, and a lot of work has gone into finessing the offering. We’re continuing to elevate the fashion mix on the upper ground by building on the success of national retailers such as Elm, Decjuba and Sportsgirl, whilst continuing to provide a broad mix of general merchandise, food and retail services on lower ground. 

Our overarching strategy for Eastlands is to be the #1 shopping destination in Hobart, and now that we’ve hit 100% leased, we feel we’re just about there, but very much looking forward to continuing to build on that.

Are there any retailers you were particularly proud to secure? 

AARON: Opening Peter Alexander and Bed Bath N’ Table in last six months has been great, and locals are loving Hobart favourite, Penny's Bakery, which opened last month. Hobarts’ first Travelex will open before the end of the financial year too.  

What happens now that your 100% leased, does much change in your day to day? 

AARON: Not a lot changes for us, with our focus now being on reviewing expiring leases over the next couple of years and seeing how we can best meet the centre strategy and cater for the community. With no spaces to fill it’s an exciting time as we continue enhancing the centre with retailers we know our customers will love. 

What’s the best thing about working in Leasing? 

AARON: Interacting with different teams within Vicinity to get the best outcome for the centre, our retailers and customers. 

Can you tell us a bit about the process of engaging retail partners in Mall Leasing? 

EMILY: It’s all about building relationships with the client and understanding their needs, wants and dreams. I work with the client over time, looking at their business strategy to really understand their bigger picture and where they want their business to be. Once I understand that, it’s about how I can help them make it happen and support them long term. 

How do you collaborate with the broader Leasing team?  

EMILY: A great example is with one of our retailers, Custom Planet. We’ve been working with them for four years, firstly as a Mall Leasing retailer, but we knew from the start they aspired to a permanent store space.

Over the years we discussed how they could grow the business to prepare for the permanent store, including getting the business online and increasing sales. We then began working with our Leasing Executive, Aaron, to make this happen and I’m pleased to say Custom Planet took our very last permanent store space and simultaneously took us to 100% leased! 

How do you find working across both Eastlands and neighbouring centre, Northgate? 

EMILY: Placing retailers in spaces is not just a transaction, you do really need to understand their business and goals to assign them the right space, in the right asset. Eastlands and Northgate are very different centres with different customer demographics. We’re a close-knit team in Tassie and know the assets, our customers and retailers well, it was a whole team effort that took us to 100%.

Damien, can you tell us about Tenancy Delivery and where in the Leasing process you get involved? 

DAMIEN: Firstly, we’re engaged in the pre-lease phase to undertake investigations and what is required. Sometimes it’s simple - one tenant moving out, and a new one moving in - but if we’re looking at making a space bigger or dividing space, considering how much to defit, moving switchboards and so on, that’s when it gets more complex.

During this phase we’re providing detail mostly around compliance and construction costs for the Leasing Executive to take back to the incoming retailer to consider. 

Then once a lease is instructed, we get involved again, working closely with the Retail Design Manager and the Operations team at the centre to help coordinate the works and bring the store to life.

Any specific openings at Eastlands you’ve enjoyed working on? 

DAMIEN: We’ve had some really good ones recently, with Peter Alexander opening in a prominent corner spot and transforming an older space into a bright, new Bed Bath and Table.

It’s really rewarding to see how these much-anticipated openings land with our customers and really help deliver on our centre aspirations. 

What’s the most exciting thing about Tenancy Delivery? 

DAMIEN: Definitely before and afters!

Seeing what a space looks like before then working with our internal teams and external partners to transform the space is great. Nothing beats removing the hoarding and seeing something new, especially with highly desired retailers.

What’s the most important thing that contributed to getting Eastlands 100% leased? 

DAMIEN: Teamwork! As a Leasing team, we rely heavily on the centre teams who have fantastic local knowledge and connections with customers. They are amazing, have great site knowledge and we collaborate really well – without them there’s no way we would have hit 100%.