This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
GLOBAL real estate firm Hines has furthered its expansion into the Australia industrial and logistics sector with the acquisition of two Melbourne sites from car manufacturer Honda.
Through its Hines Asia Property Partners (HAPP) fund – the firm’s flagship commingled Asia Pacific core plus fund – it has bought sites in Campbellfield and Tullamarine. It follows its maiden Australian industrial acquisition of a portfolio of four assets in Sydney and Brisbane in April.
The Tullamarine property, at 85-95 Sharps Road and adjacent to Melbourne Airport, and will be the first major ground-up logistics development for Hines in Australia after Honda vacates the property in early 2024.
The high-profile corner site offers exposure to Sharps Road and Keilor Park Drive, which are major arterial networks from the M80 to the airport.
In Campbellfield, Hines has bought 1954-1956 Sydney Road, a freestanding warehouse and office building opposite the former Ford factory, which is being redeveloped into a mixed-use business park aiming to provide significant amenity to the precinct, including quick service retail outlets, a childcare centre, hotel and conference centre.
“Throughout the Asia Pacific region, we are seeing sustained demand for Hines’ next- generation facilities and we intend to strategically invest and deliver this type of product,” said Chiang Ling Ng, CIO of Asia Pacific at Hines.
“These new Australia acquisitions are adding further scale to Hines’ growing industrial and logistics platform in the region and help expand our investors’ exposure to the dynamic logistics sector across Asia Pacific.”
Hines has secured 11 logistics assets in Asia Pacific totalling 633,192 sqm since 2020, over seven cities in Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.
The latest Australian acquisition was led by Alysia Reilly, head of industrial and logistics, Australia.
Hines has invested nearly US$6.3 billion in the industrial and logistics sector as of the March quarter, and completed over 76 acquisitions representing more than 5.49 million sqm. It has an additional 96 development projects ranging from in-design to completed in its portfolio.
Hines has been an active player across multiple sectors in Melbourne. Last month, it launched a new premium-grade office tower at 600 Collins Street in the CBD, which it acquired at the height of the pandemic, and is constructing a $200 million office building that will Melbourne’s tallest timber structure in Collingwood.
Last year, it began its foray into Australia’s nascent build-to-rent market, buying an inner north Melbourne site for a 250-unit apartment complex, and followed that up with the purchase of 3,000 sqm of land for a $230 million facility.
