DeGroup is one of Australia’s leading family-owned integrated property groups, with a long-standing track record of creating value across a diverse range of property sectors.
Our business spans property investment, development and active asset management, with experience across retail, commercial, industrial, residential and hospitality assets. This diversified approach gives DeGroup a deep understanding of property markets and allows us to identify opportunities across different sectors and market cycles.
We take a hands-on, entrepreneurial approach to every asset and project, combining commercial discipline with development expertise and long-term ownership. Our integrated structure allows us to manage the full property lifecycle — from acquisition and development through to leasing, repositioning and ongoing asset management.
DeGroup is also supported by a broader group of operating businesses across hospitality and parking services, further strengthening our property and operational capabilities.
We combine institutional property expertise with the agility, values and long-term perspective of a family-owned business.
An experienced, integrated team with deep capability across investment, development, leasing and asset management.
Now in our third generation, DeGroup combines long-term thinking, strong relationships and the values of a family-owned business.
We develop, invest and manage for the long term, with a focus on responsible outcomes and the ongoing performance of our assets.
To create enduring value through disciplined investment, high-quality development and active asset management. With more than 45 years of experience, DeGroup continues to pursue opportunities across multiple property sectors with a long-term, entrepreneurial and commercially focused approach.
DeGroup is committed to improving the environmental performance of our portfolio through intelligent design, renewable energy investment and efficient building operation. Our long-term ownership approach encourages us to invest in initiatives that reduce energy consumption, lower emissions and improve the ongoing performance of our assets. This includes significant investment in solar generation and other sustainability initiatives across the portfolio.
Key Points:
• 6,742 solar panels at existing investments
• $5.5m investments in sustainability
• Ongoing energy-efficiency upgrades across our assets
From humble beginnings, Italian born Luigi DeLutis left his hometown of Tocco Di Casuaria, Pescara Italy in 1950 at the age of eighteen bound for Australia. Luigi’s wife Anna joined him soon after, immigrating in 1954. Wasting no time, the entrepreneurial Luigi built a shop on the front lawn of his Broadway Reservoir house and operated a milk bar and delicatessen.
Throughout the 1960’s, Luigi continued to work hard and began to develop, buy, and sell a number of businesses during the family's early years in Australia.
EARLY 1970s
Luigi's son, Colin, at the age of 14 began promoting rock concerts and dances throughout Melbourne’s suburbs with bands such as ACDC, Sherbert, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Hush, Daddy Cool and Skyhooks. Using the savings he accumulated from promoting rock concerts, Colin embarked on a trip to China during school holidays in June 1973 to source and import jeans in what was an industry first. Then together with the support of his perennially optimistic father, Colin opened the first Westco Jeans store in Smith Street, Collingwood in November 1973. Although challenging, Colin balanced his final year of secondary schooling at the age of 17 with his rapidly growing retail business. Within the first five years of operation and whilst at University, Colin continued to grow the business establishing 6 stores by the time he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
ACDC Concert organised by Colin DeLutis, 1975
LATE 1970s
DeGroup Pty Ltd was formed in 1977 with the purchase of the group’s first commercial property located at 240-250 Lygon Street, East Brunswick. The Group developed five warehouse facilities at the site shortly after. This provided Westco Jeans the ability to occupy two facilities for manufacturing to to meet growing demand. The factories expanded production to approximately 300,000 pairs of jeans per year.
Westco Jeans - Sydney Road, Coburg
EARLY 1980s
Following the Group’s first foray into commercial property, several other investment properties were purchased in quick succession. Between 1981 and 1984, the Group acquired strip retail shops in Swanston Street, Melbourne, Burke Road, Camberwell, Chapel Street, Prahran, Nicholson Street Mall, Footscray, Myer Department Store in Launceston, and a commercial building in Cobden Street, North Melbourne.
MID-LATE 1980s
Westco Jeans acquired 6 ‘Central Park’ fashion stores within major shopping centres and high-profile locations and rebranded them as Westco Jeans stores. The business continued to expand in Victoria and in 1987 opened their first interstate store at Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, Queensland.
LATE 1980s
In the late 1980’s, the economy of Australia suffered its worst recession since the Great Depression. During these incredibly tough years, the Group proved resilient and continued to trade through a period in which many financially sound companies failed. Property values across Australia fell by more than 50% in some sectors, unemployment rose significantly and interest rates rose to more than 20% per annum. The Group was supported by the strength of its Westco Jeans retail business and emerged from the downturn bruised, but intact.
Westco Jeans - Elizabeth Street, Melbourne CBD
EARLY 1990s
Following the recession, the opportunistic Westco Jeans successfully completed the take-over of the Eastcoast Jeans chain on 77 stores in 1993 taking Westco to 120 stores nationally. In 1996, DeGroup acquired ifirst large scale CBD office tower and adjoining 800-bay car park on a rare 2,828 m2 island site. By this time, the Group had built a large portfolio of commercial properties in retail, industrial and office
LATE 1990s
The business completed another major acquisition, taking over 44 Worths, Thwaittes and Alexanders menswear stores across West Australia and South Australia in 1993 which were subsequently converted to Westco. By August 1999, the business had expanded to approximately 160 stores nationwide and later that year, 75% of the Westco Jeans business was divested to Boston-based private equity firm Advent International.
EARLY 2000s
The Group acquired a 20-level commercial office building located at 190 Queen Street, Melbourne which was largely vacant at the time. The building was refurbished, repositioned, and re-leased shortly thereafter. The Bradmill textile business and freehold property in Yarraville was purchased out of receivership from ANZ in 2002. The land was iconic and widely recognised by its historic boiler house and chimney, conveyor and coal hopper and original dye house when crossing the Westgate Freeway. The freehold property comprised a 19.6-hectare parcel of land with 580 metres of frontage to Francis Street in Yarraville. Committed to turning the business around, Colin worked tirelessly to stem ongoing losses and ensure that all employees received their full entitlements once the mill was relocated offshore. In successfully doing so, the Group acquired adjoining land parcels to the west of Bradmill, totalling approximately 9.8-hectares, creating a 29.6-hectare supersite throughout the early 2000s.
Bradmill, Francis Street Yarraville (2008)
MID 2000s
The Group’s passion and experience in retail was reignited with the purchase of Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre in 2004. A neighbourhood shopping centre anchored by Coles and adjoining expansion land located in Point Cook, Victoria. The Group has since completed two extensions in 2012 and 2018, expanding the Centre from 7,000 sqm to a 20,000 sqm, including Coles, Kmart, Aldi and 100 specialty stores.
Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre (2004)
LATE 2000s
DeGroup worked with Maribyrnong Council to successfully achieve the re-zoning and permitted masterplan of the amalgamated Bradmill super-site. The Group accomplished planning permission for approximately 2000 new dwellings, a new neighbourhood shopping centre, library, medical centre and various other community facilities. This included adaptive reuse of the existing heritage buildings for residential warehouse conversion and iconic boiler house proposed to accommodate commercial/recreational use.
Bradmill, Francis Street Yarraville Masterplan (2008)
EARLY 2010s
The hard-working family patriarch, Luigi DeLutis, passed away in 2012 at 81 years old. Luigi was instrumental in his wisdom and counsel. Luigi was always positive and encouraging Colin with his endeavours. The two shared an exceptionally close bond, and Luigi remains deeply missed by all who knew him.
In 2014, the Group purchased Somerville Central Shopping Centre from Federation Limited (formerly Centro), a 16,000m2 neighbourhood centre comprising majors Coles and Target plus 45 specialty retailers. In 2015, DeGroup acquired the former Mitre 10 site on Ocean Beach Road, Sorrento, which was subsequently redeveloped into a premium retail precinct completed in 2021.
Former Mitre 10 site, Ocean Beach Road, Sorrento acquired by DeGroup in 2015
LATE 2010s
In 2016, Colin and Ben acquired the historic Metropolitan Hotel at 263 William Street, Melbourne, with plans for a major mixed-use redevelopment incorporating the restored hotel and a boutique office tower above.
The following year, the Group divested the 29.6-hectare Bradmill site to international interests.
Colin’s son, Ben, officially joined DeGroup in 2018 after a four-year period at CBRE in Commercial Valuations and Advisory, following completion of a double bachelor’s degree in Commerce, majoring in Finance, and Property and Real Estate.
Later that year, DeGroup acquired The Village Bacchus Marsh, a 16,000 sqm shopping centre with plans for future expansion.Colin’s daughter, Brittany, joined DeGroup in 2019 as Marketing Manager after three years with Accent Group Limited, including time in the Skechers marketing team. Prior to this, Brittany completed a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) at RMIT.
DeGroup also completed the Lygon Place development in late 2018, comprising eight levels, 96 apartments and four retail shops. In the same year, the Group completed Nicholson House, a townhouse development in Abbotsford.
The historic Metropolitan Hotel acquired by DeGroup in 2016
EARLY 2020s
CS Square Shopping Centre, Caroline Springs was purchased from the Lendlease managed Australian Prime Property Fund Retail (APPF Retail) in 2021. The 27,000 sqm centre is anchored by Coles, Kmart, Woolworths and Aldi. The Group has three stages of extensions planned at CS Square, totalling approximately 12,000sqm. In the same year, the Group acquired a freestanding Coles supermarket in Woodend, together with the historic Sorrento Athenaeum Theatre and adjoining restaurant. The Group subsequently developed plans to repurpose and revitalise the Sorrento asset following the Cinema operator's decision to vacate the premises. Construction also commenced on the redevelopment of the Metropolitan Hotel in Melbourne's CBD.
Construction Progressing at the Metropolitan Hotel redevelopment (April 2022)
Early the following year, the Group completed installation and commissioning of solar energy systems across four assets in Victoria. Collectively, the installations generate approximately 3,598 megawatt hours of clean energy each year - equivalent to the annual energy consumption of approximately 294 homes . This investment will generate clean power for our shopping centres for the long term, reducing their environmental impact while delivering shared value for our customers and retailers.
Solar Progress photo at The Village Bacchus Marsh Shopping Centre
In 2023, DeGroup continued to deliver on its multi-million-dollar pipeline of projects across retail, residential and commercial sectors.
For retail, the year marked the completion of CS Hub – an extension to the CS Square shopping precinct comprising more than 3,500sqm of new retail space and over 500sqm of office accommodation. The Sorrento-based shopping strip of 80 – 98 Ocean Beach Road also achieved full occupancy with national retail brands. Lastly, a new medical centre in one of Melbourne’s fastest growing suburbs, Point Cook, received planning approval.
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CS Hub completed, located opposite CS Square shopping centre
Additionally, the business achieved a major milestone with the opening of one of Melbourne’s most iconic pubs, The Metropolitan Hotel. DeGroup undertook a comprehensive revitalisation of the landmark building, integrating 20 levels of commercial office space above while carefully blending its historic character with contemporary design.
In the residential sector, Sprout - a collection of premium townhouses in Richmond - was completed and sold out within days of being released to market.
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The Metropolitan Hotel – a Melbourne icon, revitalised
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Sprout townhouses in Richmond, construction complete
In 2024, DeGroup was proud to announce the completion of the full restoration of the iconic Athenaeum Theatre in Sorrento, which was subsequently leased to a number of national and international retailers.
Further capitalising on residential demand across Melbourne's inner-city fringe, DeGroup also completed Fitzrovia Residences in Fitzroy - a collection of premium townhouses that sold out shortly after release. The year concluded with the completion and opening of an 840 sqm Dan Murphy’s at The Village Bacchus Marsh, opening just in time for Christmas.
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The iconic Athenaeum Theatre in Sorrento – fully restored and leased
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Fitzrovia townhouses in Fitzroy – construction complete
2025 & ONWARDS
In 2025, construction commenced on the expansion of Coles at Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre - a major refurbishment and extension delivering an additional 550sqm of retail floor space. Next door, construction also commenced on the new 2,000 sqm Medical Centre, which will deliver much-needed health services to support the continued growth of the surrounding community.
2026 will see a number of major projects delivered across DeGroup’s retail portfolio. CS Square Centre , The Village Bacchus Marsh and Somerville Central will each undergo further development, delivering approximately 2,500sqm, 2,400sqm and 2,100sqm of mixed retail, office and commercial space respectively.
In late 2026, DeGroup completed both the Point Cook Medical Centre and the major Coles expansion at Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre, marking the delivery of two significant projects within the Group’s growing development pipeline.
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CS Square expansion – retail and office spaces
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The Village Bacchus Marsh expansion – retail and office spaces
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Somerville Central expansion – retail, office and commercial spaces
