Kaufland acquires Melbourne site for Australia’s largest distribution centre

German supermarket giant Kaufland has acquired a 28 hectare block of land in Mickleham, north of Melbourne Airport, to develop Australia’s largest distribution centre.

The group also won approval this week to open three retail outlets in metropolitan Melbourne and develop its office headquarters.

The proposed Mickleham warehouse will spread 115,000 square metres and cost $459 million.

A 3600 sqm office component will also form part of the facility at Merrifield Business Park, a project by MAB Corporation and Gibson Property Corporation on the Hume Freeway, about 32 kilometres north of the CBD.

Master-planned to be Victoria’s largest employment precinct, Merrifield Business Park (artist’s impressions, top) covers 330 hectares. Dulux, D’Orsogna and Steritech have all recently signed on as occupants.

“Our new state of the art distribution centre…will be the company’s single biggest investment in Australia and enable Kaufland’s expansion,” a spokesperson for the retailer, said.

“Merrifield was selected for its strategic location and ability to cater for future expansion”.

From left to right: Matthew Planner MAB, Michael Martin MAB, Ross Spence MP, Julia Kern managing director Kaufland Australia, Jamie Buxton MAB.

Treasurer of Victoria and Minister for Economic Development, Tim Pallas, announced the proposed Mickleham complex with Kaufland Australia managing director Julia Kern.

MAB and GPC said it tailored a site for Kaufland, and assisted with planning approvals, acknowledging the “very rare” scale of the proposed project.

“We are able to de-risk planning…and this is another major value-add that few competitors can match,” MAB director of Business Parks, Michael Martin, bragged in this statement on the company website.

The Kaufland complex is expected to employ 600 people.

Also this week the supermarket obtained approval to open three outlets, in Chirnside Park, Dandenong South and Epping.

The discount variety retailer, which tries to trade from complexes of about 4000 sqm, is currently awaiting approval for outlets at Coolaroo, near Mickleham, Mornington and Oakleigh South – all in Melbourne. Its Australian headquarters is also mooted for the Oakleigh South site, a former Bunnings hardware store.

The company is also seeking to build warehouses of approximately 20,000 sqm on land parcels of between 2 and 2.5 hectares.

Last August we reported that Kaufland paid $19.7 million for a Burleigh Heads, Queensland, site, spreading 3.3 hectares, another ex-Bunnings outlet.

Kaufland’s first reported Australian property purchase was in 2017, when it paid $25 million for the former Le-Cornu Furniture outlet in Forestville, Adelaide, to set up a 20,000 sqm store.

The business trades from some 1200 outlets in seven countries.

 

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Marc Pallisco

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