Ben Tana

Overseas and interstate retailers are lining up to be part of an emerging new precinct in the Perth CBD.

Global clothing giant H&M is set to enter the Western Australian market after months of rumour and innuendo, with the retailer understood to be about to sign a lease to move into the GPO Building in Forrest Place.

Cancer Council WA is shifting its headquarters to Subiaco, after buying a 2,200 square metre office in the Westgate Building on Railway Parade in a deal brokered by commercial agency Burgess Rawson.

Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City has secured another international brand coup, with H&M to open its first Western Australian store at the mall later this year, ahead of an expected CBD outlet for the global fashion retailer.

Food and beverage operators are leading a revival for high street retail property, with Beaufort Street, Oxford Street and Albany Highway buzzing, and depressed centres Rokeby Road and Bay View Terrace tipped to be on the way back.

Former Aquila Resources boss Tony Poli is advancing plans to build a new shopping centre in the eastern suburbs, after his property development company bought a vacant site for $2.6 million in a deal brokered by Colliers International.

Tony Poli's Aigle Royal Developments will revive the long-stalled Port Geographe development near Busselton, after it bought a 59-hectare tract of land in a deal worth $13.5 million.

Heralded streetwear retailer Culture Kings is opening a Perth store, signing a lease to take up space in the Hay Street Mall, in a deal brokered by Colliers International.Culture Kings will take up a 587 square metre tenancy, previously home to Ally Fashion, at 664 Hay Street.

Global fashion giant H&M says its first Western Australian store will open at Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City on August 29, while it also appears to be making progress on opening its planned CBD shop.

Vacant shops are usually considered to be harbingers of doom and gloom in the retail sector, but that may not necessarily be the case in Perth’s CBD.

SPECIAL REPORT: Property groups are chasing retail opportunities in Perth’s CBD with a pipeline of upgrades and developments worth more than $250 million.