This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
WARBURG Pincus-backed self-storage company StorHub has picked up an inner Melbourne heritage warehouse site from Salta for $20.5 million, while on the other side of town a private investor has nabbed two freestanding facilities in the western suburbs for a similar amount.
In Burnley, the Singapore-based StorHub – which launched into Australia with five seed assets earlier this year, and has since expanded to 11 – intends to develop a high-density self-storage facility at its newly acquired 173-177 Barkly Avenue site.
The property currently comprises the Rogerseller building, a single-level heritage-style warehouse that has been converted into a showroom and office space. It has a total net lettable area of around 1,685 sqm, including 23 at-grade car bays. The property was sold with a passing rent of $516,250 per annum, leased to Winning Appliances, trading as Rogerseller, until August next year.
Salta had acquired the property in 2019 and it has an approved permit for a seven-storey commercial office building designed by architects Gray Puksand.
StorHub Australia CEO, Simon DeGaris said that since launching in Australia, the company’s objective has been to rapidly grow its footprint by “acquiring well-located and strategic holdings like the Burnley site”.
“By focusing on technology, user experience and service, we can deliver modern, secure and reliable storage facilities to meet the diverse needs of households and small and medium-sized enterprises,” he said.
StorHub is fresh from snapping up Sydney facilities worth more than $110 million, in one of the country’s largest self-storage sector transactions in recent years. That deal took its portfolio to 110,000 sqm of gross floor area and more than 8,500 storage units across Australia, with the total estimated end value of the portfolio at over $420 million.
The off-market sale in Burnley was managed by Colliers agents Ben Baines, Rob Joyes, and Alex Browne.
“The site attracted lots of from self-storage developers looking to capitalise on the dense surrounding residential catchment, commercial developers seeking city fringe offerings and retail owner occupiers that appreciated the significant passing traffic,” Baines said.
“The high-profile development site is extremely well located in one of Melbourne’s most in-demand city fringe precincts.”
StorHub was represented by Damian Wisdom of HRB & Co.
Investor picks up Laverton warehouses
Meanwhile, in the western suburb of Laverton, a private investor has secured two freestanding warehouse and office buildings for $20 million.
Warehouses 1 and 2 at 14 Patch Circuit are on the largest land parcel within Time & Place’s 70-lot industrial land subdivision development, The Junction. Each warehouse has 3,350 sqm of gross lettable area, including a corporate office over two levels.
Warehouse 1 was sold with a lease to the Australian Electoral Commission and warehouse 2 was sold with vacant possession. The sale occurred about four months prior to practical completion.
CBRE’s Tom Murphy, Lachlan May, Cameron Giles and Fergus Pragnell brokered the deal.
Murphy noted the sale price set a new benchmark in this part of the market.
“Melbourne’s west is still largely undersupplied for zoned industrial land and this transaction sets a precedent for office warehouses of this size,” he said.
“This is a great result for the industrial market. Given the current economic conditions and uncertainty in the market, we are still seeing many industrial businesses performing strongly.”
After a subdued year or two, commercial real estate transaction volumes are picking up, with an 18% increase over the last six months compared to the same time last year.
