This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
LARGE format retail centre owner Aventus Group has acquired a 31,470 sqm development site adjoining its Epping Home from Kaufland, which was to be used as one of the German giant’s first hypermarkets before its sensational exit from the Australian market earlier this year.
The $11.5 million acquisition of the former Bunnings site at 592-694 High St takes the company’s land holding in the northern Melbourne suburb to over 90,000 sqm. Site coverage of the existing centre will reduce to 24% post completion of the purchase, expected in late July.
Aventus chief executive officer, Darren Holland said Epping is one of the fastest growing catchments of Melbourne, with the main trade area due to grow by 100,000 people, or 36%, by 2024.
He said the land has the benefit of being located in a flexible activity centre zone which allows mixed use, retail, residential, office, medical and large format retail.
The land is positioned between the Epping train station and Epping Plaza, anchored by Woolworths, Coles, Costco and over 230 specialty shops.
Often described as a meeting of Costco and Aldi concepts, Kaufland is part of shopping behemoth Schwarz Group and would have introduced a chain of warehouse-sized supermarkets selling a broad array of food, clothes, toys, and hardware across the country.
Instead, hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate across the country was left in limbo when the hypermarket chain made the shock announcement in January it would pull the plug on its Australian operations before opening.
Reports suggested it had invested at least $500 million – some suggested close to $1 billion – on its rollout. That included more than $450 million on its 117,000 sqm distribution facility on 28 hectares in Merrifield Business Park, on which construction began 12 months ago.
Kaufland had received planning approval from the state government earlier in 2019 for its first three Victoria stores, including in Chirnside Park and Dandenong, as well as the distribution centre. Plans were made for supermarkets on the east coast in Coolaroo, Oakleigh, Moorabbin Airport, Mornington, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Newcastle and Toowoomba.
The Australian Financial Review reported Kaufland had picked more than 56 hectares of land across 23 sites in total, spending $74 million on four former Bunnings warehouses that it would convert into supermarkets, as well as $20.5 million for a retail property in Brisbane’s Morayfield.
Construction had started on Kaufland’s first two Adelaide stores. In Prospect, a $23.5 million retail complex would include a 4,052 sqm store with a 1,607 sqm stockroom – smaller than its typical offerings – while a $34 million two-storey supermarket on the Le Cornu site in Forestville was given the green light more than 18 months after the company acquired the landmark site for $25 million.
In the months leading up to its withdrawal, Kaufland shelved plans for a $24 million store in the outer northern suburb of Munna Para.
Kaufland International acting chief executive officer, Frank Schumann said the decision to focus business activities in Europe was “in no way a reflection of the efforts of our local employees or management, or the support Kaufland has received from the Australian business community or governments”.
