This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE local arm of global logistics platform ESR has partnered with Japanese giant Mitsubishi Estate Asia (MEA) to develop a $175 million industrial estate in Melbourne’s south-east.
The 70,000 sqm estate, to be known as Enterprise Industry Park, will be delivered across 12.1 hectares of land that remains from ESR’s purchase of 25 hectares at 92 Enterprise Road in Pakenham in 2021.
Thirteen hectares has been offloaded to an owner occupier, and the new partnership with MEA will acquire the balance.
Construction has already kicked off on the first stage, with the 12,600 sqm build pre-leased to a global textile manufacturer and expected to be completed in early 2025. Development on the second stage is expected to start within the second half of this year and is currently available for lease.
“Melbourne’s south-east continues to be a strong strategic location for industrial estates, with limited available land and vacancy,” ESR Australia said.
Enterprise Industry Park will give customers a “cost-effective alternative to the already established Dandenong market” it said, and offer strong visibility to the Princes Freeway, and connectivity infrastructure and population hubs of south-east Melbourne and further afield.
“The partnership aligns with the broader ESR Group’s continued focus on lightening its balance sheet and diversifying capital sources,” said Phil Pearce, ESR Group deputy CEO and ESR Australia CEO.
“This partnership reflects ESR Australia’s development capabilities and together with Mitsubishi Estate Asia will focus on delivering a modern portfolio of high-quality and strategically located industrial estates.”
The joint venture with ESR marks MEA’s first significant investment in Australia’s logistics and industrial sector.
“This transaction is an important milestone in our strategic expansion in Australia where we are now invested in every key real estate sector including living, office, hotel and now logistics and industrial,” said executive director – head of Australia at Mitsubishi Estate Asia, Yuzo Nishiyama.
“MEA’s goal is to expand further in these key sectors with the valuable support of our trusted partners.”
MEA partnered with Lendlease two years ago in an $800 million-plus mega-deal to acquire the One Circular Quay development in Sydney, which is next to Sydney’s tallest commercial tower, the $1.9 billion Salesforce Tower, which MEA is also party to.
MEA and Lendlease had previously partnered on a residential tower within the Melbourne Quarter precinct.
The Pakenham deal was advised on by Greg Hyland and Stuart McCann from CBRE for ESR and by Nathan Parris from Emerge Capital for MEA.
Closer to the city in Melbourne’s south-east, Elanor Investors Group and American global asset manager PGIM have just teamed up to buy a 19-hectare site in Melbourne’s Mulgrave, where they will build a 113,000 sqm logistics estate.
This partnership comes hot on the heels of ESR taking full control of LOGOS this week.
