As city centres evolve into more integrated, experience-led destinations, the role of those leading these assets has never been more critical – or more complex. In this exclusive Q&A, we speak with Rosemary Condron-Calic, Head of Portfolio and Asset Management at Dexus.
SCN: What is your current role and what are your responsibilities?
As Head of Portfolio and Asset Management at Dexus, my role is to drive end-to-end asset performance across our retail portfolio on behalf of our investors and owners. That starts with savvy and disciplined investment management decision-making right through to agile, on the ground, tactical execution so that we’re unlocking the full embedded potential across our portfolio. I’m responsible for the management of Dexus’ entire retail property portfolio, a genuinely diverse footprint that spans major shopping centres, convenience and fuel assets, as well as our City Retail portfolio that’s woven through our premium office towers. In practical terms, that means overseeing close to half a million square metres of retail space under our own management platform, while also working with our key strategic partner Scentre Group across the 10 centres we co-own with them. We’re here to create enduring value through hands-on decisions: deploying capital where it delivers the greatest impact, building genuinely collaborative relationships with our key stakeholders, especially our retailers, and ensuring our shoppers enjoy their experience every time they visit our centres.
SCN: How is your team prioritising experience-led growth over traditional retail?
The shift is already well under way, and the data is unambiguous. Service-based retailing has grown from a relatively minor component to well over a quarter of the total mix in our larger centres. That’s not something we’ve imposed. It’s a response to what shoppers are telling us with their feet and their wallets. People are coming to centres for experiences, health appointments, food, and social connection, not just to buy things. Our job is to lean into that and curate accordingly. Where we’ve had the conviction to act on it – consolidating underperforming tenancies, introducing first to market concepts, reimagining how space is activated – the commercial results have followed consistently. Experience isn’t the soft side of retail strategy anymore. It’s the commercial engine.
SCN: With the rise of vertical precincts, how are you integrating non-retail uses into your assets?
Mixed-use is where the most interesting value creation is happening right now. At Indooroopilly, we’ve secured adjacent land specifically with future mixed-use development in mind – that’s a deliberate long-game decision. Gasworks Plaza in Newstead is another strong example from our own portfolio that demonstrates what genuinely integrated mixed-use looks like at its best. It’s not a shopping centre with apartments nearby. It’s a true urban precinct where retail, dining, office and residential coexist and actively reinforce the value of each. The offer extends the asset’s relevance across the full day and well into the evening. The mix feels intentional rather than incidental and the result is a precinct that is genuinely embedded into the community.
Our City Retail assets reflect a similar logic – retail integrated into office towers, serving a community of workers, visitors and residents across different times of day. The principle I keep coming back to is that non-retail uses should extend and amplify the centre’s relevance – not just fill floor space. When health, hospitality, co-working or residential are layered in thoughtfully, you extend trading hours, broaden your audience and fundamentally strengthen the asset’s role in the community.
SCN: How is AI influencing your real-time decision-making regarding tenant mix or operational efficiency?
We’re moving well beyond dashboards and retrospective reporting. The capability we’re building is genuinely forward-looking – tools that help us determine at a granular level where the next dollar of capital investment will earn the best return. Is it an experience upgrade? A specific category of retailer? An amenity improvement? That level of precision in capital allocation is only possible when you’re integrating traffic data, sales productivity and tenancy adjacency into a single-decision framework. The ambition is to have these tools embedded into everyday planning and leasing decisions, not sitting in a separate analytics function. AI isn’t replacing judgement. It’s supporting better decision-making by removing the noise. At the core of it all, are our customers, servicing their needs, addressing their friction points, and using AI to assist. This is a key driver of value looking forward.
SCN: What is your philosophy on genuine partnership and shared-risk models?
Partnership has to mean something real. For me, that means being genuinely invested in the retailer’s success – understanding their model, their pressures, their growth ambitions, and structuring the relationship accordingly. Our joint venture with Scentre Group is a strong expression of this at scale, giving us access to insight and capability that benefits the whole portfolio. But it applies equally at the individual tenancy level. The evidence-based, hands-on management approach we take works only when there’s real alignment between landlord and tenant. When both parties are genuinely incentivised to make the asset perform. The question I always come back to is simple: Are we set up to succeed together? If the answer is no, the structure needs to change.
SCN: Looking back at your journey, what is the most significant way the skill set required for a retail leader has changed since you started?
The shift from intuition to data is the defining change of my career. The fundamentals haven’t changed – location, mix, customer experience – but the ability to interrogate those fundamentals with precision, and act on what the data is telling you quickly, has become non-negotiable. I also think the role requires a much broader systems perspective than it once did. Our centres are social infrastructure, they serve communities, not just consumers. Understanding that role and the responsibility that comes with it shapes how I think about every major decision. The leaders who will drive this industry forward are the ones who can hold both the analytical and the human dimension at the same time.
SCN: What is the one piece of advice you would give to someone entering the retail property industry today?
Learn to think in ecosystems, not assets. The instinct when you enter this industry is to focus on the physical elements: the building, the tenancy schedule, the lease terms. And those things matter. But the value in this industry is increasingly created by understanding how a centre fits into its community, its catchment, its urban context and the omnichannel environment, and then actively shaping that over time. The people who will lead this sector in 2030 are the ones who can connect data fluency with strategic imagination and genuine relationship-building. That combination is rare and it’s irreplaceable.
SCN: In three words, how would you describe the Australian shopping centre of the next decade?
Connected. Curated. Indispensable.
- This exclusive interview with Rosemary Condron-Calic, was first published in SCN magazine – CBD Guns edition
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