Mall Brawl Looms in Australia as Stores Cry Poor on Rents

Australia’s biggest shopping-center operators, Westfield Group, Stockland and GPT Group, are lowering rents for new stores while existing tenants call for cuts as major-mall sales drop for the first time in a decade.

Myer Holdings Ltd., the nation’s largest department store chain, will close as many as a quarter of its outlets as leases expire if rental costs, estimated at 52 percent higher than those paid on average by New York-based Saks Inc., aren’t cut. Premier Investments Ltd., the largest operator of small stores, is closing 50 shops and seeking lower rents at remaining sites that pay triple The Gap Inc.’s estimated average global rent.