This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AUSTRALASIA’S largest family-owned and operated aftermarket automotive component supplier has offloaded its Eagle Farm property for nearly $7 million, while leasing nearly 8,400 sqm of industrial space to increase its footprint and be closer to its customer base.
CoolDrive Auto Parts has experienced a period of rapid growth, recently being named one of Australia’s best-performing private businesses in Deloitte’s Best Managed Companies awards, and will be relocating its main base to Banyo, while expanding to two other locations.
CoolDrive leased the 2,365 sqm Banyo facility at 128 Buchanan Road under a five-year lease agreement, close to its customer base, while at Yatala and Burleigh Heads, CoolDrive has secured premises that are two to four times the size of its existing facilities to service growing customer demand.
The seven-year Yatala lease involves the old Techno Racing building, which offers significant exposure to the Pacific Motorway. The 9-13 Dixon Street building will serve as the company’s flagship location and head office, providing 4,203 sqm of space. CoolDrive will relocate to the building in September from much smaller, 600sqm premises in Ashmore.
In the third deal, CoolDrive leased a 1,818 sqm Burleigh Heads facility at 7 Ern Harley Drive in a seven-year lease agreement, with the property bridging the gap between CoolDrive’s Gold Coast and northern NSW locations.
They follow the disposal of the 2,250 sqm, 60 Eagleview Place facility in Eagle Farm, on Brisbane’s TradeCoast, with a six-month leaseback.
CBRE assisted CoolDrive with its south east Queensland expansion strategy, negotiating both the $6.9 million Eagle Farm sale and the new lease deals.
CBRE’s Dan Munnich noted the new owner of the Eagle Farm building is well positioned to secure a replacement tenant once Cool Drive vacates due to historical low vacancy in the Tradecoast industrial market.
“In turn, CoolDrive has been able to secure a freestanding premises in Banyo which is much closer to its customer base and its Caboolture depot.”
CoolDrive Auto Parts CEO John Blanchard said the company has been on a strong growth trajectory in recent years and the company has been able to relocate four branches into bigger sites and open two new sites in Yatala and Burleigh Heads.