Klika leases national HQ and distribution centre in Melbourne’s Braeside
Online shopping giant Klika has leased a corporate head office, national distribution centre and customer pick-up centre, in Braeside.
The deal, for 17,922 square metres at 41-51 Mills Road, is the largest rental agreement struck for an existing industrial facility in Melbourne’s south east this year
The property contains about 1200 sqm of refurbished office and showroom space.
Klika is paying between $60-$65 per square metre, per annum, for the area – or between $1,075-$1.165 million
The Braeside complex, on a 5.3 hectare block, is owned by ARA Australia, an arm of Singapore-based ARA Asset Management.
CBRE’s David Aiello found Klika prior to the launch of an official marketing campaign.
The occupier will move in on November 1.
“In what has otherwise been a softer leasing market in 2019, this is a significant transaction for the south east,” Mr Aiello said – adding that the vacancy rate for industrial buildings of greater than 4000 sqm, in the south east, is (a low) 1.5 per cent.
The agent said that the two most influential factors driving Melbourne’s industrial and logistics sector were strong population growth and the impact of e-commence.
ARA Australia head of asset management Rohan Neville said Klika’s long-term commitment t the Braeside warehouse “reflects the quality and attractive location of this particular property, which is a key strategic asset within our broader portfolio”.
That impressive portfolio includes more than $US83 billion worth of assets across 100 cities in 23 countries.
ARA Asset Management is one of the largest REIT managers in the Asia Pacific. Its highest profile Melbourne property is arguably the Southgate office and retail complex.
Klika just the latest to lease a major Melbourne distribution centre
Klika, an online variety store, stocks more than 19,000 items – including bulky indoor and outdoor furniture.
It will relocate to Braeside from Oakleigh South.
“We are delighted to be working with ARA Australia moving forward, and are appreciative of CBRE’s assistance yet again,” Klika director of operations, Leo Zaitsev, said.
“With the 30 per cent growth in sales we have been experiencing over the preceding years despite experiencing space constraints, we are now even better positioned to take advantage of the forecasted growth in the e-commerce sector with our new and larger premises.
In April, we reported that Amart Furniture pre-committed to a 48,770 sqm distribution centre in Logistics Drive, Truganina – about 22 kilometres west of the city. A month later, Goodman sold the property as an investment to LOGOS for a speculated $65 million – as we reported, here.
Germany-based hypermarket Kaufland announced in March that it acquired a 28 hectare site to build the biggest distribution centre in Australia – at MAB Corporation and Gibson Property Group’s Merrifields Business Park in Mickleham, about 32 kilometres north of town.
Kaufland priced the completed 115,000 sqm facility at $459 million.
Last November we reported that Woolworths had assigned a Dandenong South distribution centre no longer required since the 2016 sale of its Home Timber and Hardware business to Metcash.
JTC and Border Express filled the 27,900 sqm building at 98-126 South Park Drive.
