Blackstone and Mirvac to spec-build two Melbourne industrial investments worth $60 million

Joint venture partners Blackstone and Mirvac will build two industrial investments to launch the 25-hectare Biodiversity Business Park which Vaughan Constructions is developing, in Epping, about 36 kilometres north of Melbourne.

Vaughan Constructions will begin constructing the two facilities early next year.

The largest will occupy a five hectare plot and contain 30,000 square metres of area which can be split into two tenancies. A smaller 15,500 sqm facility will be constructed on a three hectare block.

The end value of the two buildings is estimated to be about $60 million.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to announce the Mirvac/Blackstone deals in launching a new estate to a northern Melbourne market which currently has an acute lack of quality industrial facilities, especially so close to the freeway,” Vaughan director Mark Byrne said.

“Mirvac and Blackstone are confident about finding tenants as they embark on what is a relatively new way of doing things in an evolving industrial market driven by e-commerce and a booming state economy”.

The first stage of the Biodiversity estate has the potential to accommodate another 103,000 sqm of warehousing. A second stage, comprising 50 hectares of land area, can deliver about 250,000 sqm of new stock.

The industrial park (image outlining the stages, top) carries an end value of $375 million, Vaughan said.

JLL head of industrial, Tony Iuliano, said speculative development, as is being proposed by Blackstone and Mirvac, would become more common, moving forward.

“This is one of Victoria’s best industrial markets that we have seen in years with significant rises in land prices, rental growth and unprecedented tenant demand,” Mr Iuliano said. “We are also seeing $20 billion of unsatisfied capital both offshore and onshore looking to deploy into the Australian industrial and logistics sector”.

Vaughan is constructing the $37 million Maker Place industrial complex for Frasers Property on a speculative basis in Truganina, about 22 kilometres west of the Melbourne CBD.

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Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.