Melanie Hodge, Portfolio Manager – Asset Management, Mirvac

assets can play a greater role in the communities they serve. Shopping Centre News (SCN):How did you get started in retail property, and how has your career evolved? Melanie Hodge (MH): While studying at university, I took a role as a receptionist in a shopping centre management office, which gave me an early appreciation for customer experience and how many different disciplines come together to make a retail asset successful. Over the past two decades, I’ve been fortunate to work across a diverse range of retail assets, from neighbourhood centres and bulky goods centres through to regional shopping centres. Along the way, I’ve also had opportunities to work in industrial and commercial property, including the development of a premium office tower, which broadened my perspective on investment, development and sustainability. SCN: What types of assets do you currently manage and what are your key priorities? MH: As a portfolio manager with Mirvac Retail, I oversee a diverse portfolio spanning Queensland and Victoria, including Orion Springfield Central, Kawana Shoppingworld and Moonee Ponds Central. What I enjoy most is that each asset is at a different stage of its lifecycle. Orion Springfield Central sits at the heart of Greater Springfield, a young, ambitious master-planned community still very much in its growth phase. It is one of Australia’s fastest-growing regions, and there is real energy in managing an asset that has grown up with its community and continues to shape how people live, connect and spend time together. Kawana Shopping Centre, QLD Kawana Shoppingworld is equally exciting, but for a different reason. The Sunshine Coast has experienced a transformational demographic shift, with a new generation of families and professionals drawn to its lifestyle, opportunity and sense of place. Kawana Shoppingworld, as a well-established sub-regional centre, is responding to this by repositioning to ensure the centre reflects the aspirations of that evolving customer while retaining the coastal ease and community connection people love. Moonee Ponds Central brings another dynamic again: an urban, convenience-led asset set within an established inner-Melbourne precinct where residential density, changing household structures and a highly connected customer base are reshaping everyday retail demand. My priorities are ultimately centred around two things: growth and people. Growth in terms of asset value, income performance and long-term relevance, and people in terms of developing high-performing teams, building strong retailer partnerships and creating destinations that genuinely serve their communities. SCN: What projects, initiatives or achievements have been the most rewarding throughout your career? MH: Some of the most rewarding experiences have come from the most challenging periods of my career. Orion Springfield Central, QLD Delivering major projects such as Orion Springfield Central, McArthur Central early in my career, numerous redevelopments and precinct upgrades, as well as the delivery of Heritage Lanes, Brisbane’s first 6-Star Green Star commercial office tower, have all been milestones. There is something incredibly rewarding about seeing a vision move from concept and construction through to opening day, and then watching communities embrace those places as parts of their daily lives. SCN: What are the biggest priorities when managing a successful retail asset in today’s market? MH: The most successful assets have a deep understanding of their customer and a willingness to evolve continually alongside them. While strong leasing outcomes, asset value growth and financial performance remain critical, success today is increasingly driven by creating destinations that remain relevant within their communities. Retail is changing rapidly, and centres that stand still risk becoming less relevant over time. For Orion Springfield Central, that means continually planning ahead of growth in one of Australia’s fastest-growing regions and ensuring the asset evolves alongside the community. For Kawana Shoppingworld, the focus is on ensuring the centre reflects the aspirations of a changing Sunshine Coast demographic, while maintaining the convenience and community connection that customers value. At Moonee Ponds Central, we’re leveraging increasing urban density and convenience-led shopping behaviours to strengthen relevance within a highly competitive inner metropolitan market. Moonee Ponds Central, VIC Ultimately, successful asset management is about balancing financial performance today with strategic decisions that create long-term value tomorrow. SCN: What metrics do you look at beyond sales and occupancy when measuring the success of a centre? MH: Sales, occupancy and income growth will always be core measures of asset performance, but they tell only part of the story. They are important indicators of how an asset is performing today; however, they don’t necessarily explain why that performance is sustainable over the long term. Increasingly, we look beyond traditional financial metrics to understand the underlying health and future resilience of an asset. Data such as visitation patterns, dwell time, cross-shopping behaviour, customer demographics and digital engagement provide a much richer understanding of how customers are interacting with our centres and how those behaviours are evolving over time. Equally important is listening to customers themselves, something we place a lot of importance on at Mirvac. Customer feedback often reveals insights that data alone cannot, helping us understand what people value, where friction exists and whether a centre continues to feel relevant to the community it serves. Sustainability has also moved beyond being a differentiator. Today it is an expectation. Investors, retailers and customers increasingly expect assets to demonstrate strong environmental performance, responsible resource management and a positive contribution to their communities. Ultimately, while financial performance remains critical, the most defensible assets are those that create a genuine connection with their customers and communities. SCN: What are the most significant opportunities currently emerging across the retail property sector? MH: One of the most exciting opportunities is the continued evolution of retail assets into broader mixed-use destinations. Retail centres increasingly sit at the heart of communities and are becoming integrated with health, education, residential, entertainment and employment uses. Orion Springfield Central is a great example, with enormous opportunities emerging from the continued growth of the surrounding health, education and employment precincts. My experience at Heritage Lanes also highlighted the important role retail can play within office and mixed-use environments. Retail is no longer simply a supporting use. It has become a critical contributor to workplace experience, activation and community building within broader precincts. Sustainability is another major opportunity. The industry has traditionally focused on environmental sustainability, but social sustainability is emerging as an equally important consideration. Creating places that foster connection, inclusion and community wellbeing will become a defining characteristic of successful assets in the future. SCN: What’s one initiative – large or small – that delivered an unexpectedly positive outcome for one of your assets? MH: A recent example would be the turtle play precinct at Kawana Shoppingworld. Kawana Dining Precinct The project was conceived as part of a broader food-and-beverage (F&B) precinct enhancement. What made it unique was the opportunity to partner with a local turtle rescue organisation and incorporate a genuine community story into the design. The result was much more than a play area. It created a point of difference for the centre, strengthened community engagement and helped increase awareness of local wildlife conservation efforts. Customers connected with the authenticity of the story, which reinforced the importance of creating experiences that are uniquely linked to place and community. SCN: How do you approach capital investment and asset repositioning to ensure long-term value creation? MH: Capital investment should always start with understanding future customer demand. The best investments are not necessarily the largest; they are the ones that strengthen an asset’s competitive position. At Kawana Shoppingworld, that includes initiatives focused on refreshing the customer experience and reinforcing a distinctly coastal identity. Simple focus on F&B reinvestment has resulted in sales outperformance. SCN: Looking ahead, how do you see the role of retail asset management evolving over the next five years? MH: The future asset manager will need to be equally comfortable with financial performance, sustainability, customer insights and community outcomes. Sustainability will continue to evolve from an operational consideration into a core business imperative. Retailers, investors and customers increasingly expect meaningful action and measurable outcomes, both environmental and social. Over the next five years, I believe the most successful asset managers will be those who can balance commercial performance with creating positive community outcomes. Increasingly, these objectives are not competing priorities, they’re mutually reinforcing. This Q&A with Melanie Hodge forms part of the Inside Asset Management feature published in the latest issue of SCN magazine