This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CONFECTIONARY and food giant Mondelēz International, which owns Cadbury, Pascall, and Oreo, has leased a 42,774 sqm automated warehouse within a Logos industrial development in one of the year’s biggest pre-commitment deals.
Construction has commenced on the temperature-controlled distribution centre in Palmers Logistics Estate in the western Melbourne suburb of Truganina. In an Australian first, Logos will not only develop and own the building under a traditional lease model, but also fund, deliver own and operate the bespoke fit-out and automation as part of the lease structure.
Mondelēz engaged business consultancy TMX to design and procure the purpose-built facility.
The initial 10-year term at 90 Palmers Road begins from July 2024, by when the facility is expected to be fully functional. It will include more than 11,000 sqm of high-bay space and will target a 5 Star Green Star Rating. Sustainability initiatives will include a one-megawatt solar system and 50,000 litre rainwater tank.
Mondelēz will be relocating from Dandenong South, in Melbourne’s south east, to a location in immediate proximity to Princes Freeway and Western Freeway and with improved proximity to the Port of Melbourne and Melbourne Airport.
“We are delighted to have Mondelez sign onto a 10-year lease in this facility to boost their business and streamline their manufacturing and distribution processes,” Logos’ head of Australia and New Zealand, Darren Searle said.
“This new commitment also sees Logos, for the first time, deliver, own and operate the specialised fit-out, including the complex automation systems, with Mondelez as our tenant.”
TMX property director Sam Dellios, said, “We understood that Mondelez needed a facility that has the inherent flexibility to grow alongside their business.
“The new facility will improve Mondelez’s supply chain efficiency as well as providing significant flexibility to enable their long-term growth aspiration.”
Average prime industrial face rents in Melbourne lifted in both the June and September quarters under unprecedented upward pressure from land value accretion, while showing an 11% increase in the year to July, according to Cushman & Wakefield. In the western suburbs, they have lifted 21%. Australia’s industrial and logistics supply pipeline for 2022 is down 600,000 sqm in new space, thanks to ongoing construction delays and rising costs, which is in turn pushing up rents.
The Mondelez facility sees the first half of the Palmers Logistics Estate committed. The estate is expected to have an end value of about $300 million
Logos has six live development estates in its Melbourne portfolio, while its national portfolio includes the $4.2 billion Moorebank Logistics Park, which it is developing alongside consortium partners AustralianSuper, AXAM IM Alts, Ivanhoé Cambridge and NSW Treasury Corporation’s TCorp, while it has recently bought 27 hectares of western Sydney land for a $500 million logistics estate.
