This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
LOGOS has picked up an under-construction logistics estate in Melbourne’s north that will offer more than 46,000 sqm of warehousing and an end value of $70 million, as appetite for this defensive asset class shows no signs of waning.
The new LOGOS Epping Logistics Estate is being developed by Time & Place. Completion is due in the second quarter of 2021 and it will have three logistics and intermodal facilities ranging from 5,815 sqm to 19,730 sqm.
Located at 415 Cooper St, the property offers access to Melbourne’s key transport network including the Western Ring Rd, Craigieburn Bypass and the Hume Hwy interchange, as well as the Victorian government’s planned North East Link.
“We have been looking to expand our portfolio into the north of Melbourne for a number of years to support the strong demand from our customers for high quality assets in this area,” LOGOS’ head of Australia and New Zealand, Darren Searle said.
LOGOS has just acquired distribution centres in Sydney and Logan City for $172 million from healthcare company Sigma, with the backing of the New South Wales government’s financial management and investment arm, TCorp.
JLL’s Matt Ellis brokered the off-market Epping transaction on behalf of Time & Place. Warehouses ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 sqm are now available for lease. Construction kicks off this month.
Chris O’Keefe, director at Time & Place, said that with the continued growth of ecommerce, which has been strengthened over the past few months as a result of the lockdowns, strong demand for small to mid-size modern logistics warehousing space is expected as retailers look to service their customers online.
In excess of $1 billion worth of industrial properties have changed hands. Centuria Industrial REIT has just claimed Telstra’s data centre complex in south east Melbourne for $416.7 million, while supermarket Aldi sold four distribution centres along the east coast for $648 million to a partnership between Charter Hall and Allianz, and Charter Hall also just entered into a $214 million portfolio sale and leaseback agreement with Owens-Illinois Australia.
Activity in Australia’s industrial market more broadly shows no sign of abating as institutional investors hunt for defensive assets. Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust last week sold its 50% stake in a Brisbane chilled facility to global real estate investment manager DWS for a cool $152.5 million, after the Dexus Australia Logistics Trust paid almost $270 million for five industrial assets in Melbourne and Sydney, and Dexus and Singapore’s GIC spent $173.5 million on two industrial properties, including a cold storage facility in Sydney.
Time & Place and its partner, MaxCap, acquired the site in July 2019 as one of the seed assets in the MaxCap Industrial Opportunity Fund. This transaction will see the property exit the fund.
LOGOS’ new estate will sit alongside major occupiers in the north of Melbourne including Mainfreight, Mazda, Bluestar Logistics, Toll, Woolworths, Bevchain and Visy.
