At other Lang Walker controlled industrial estates, petroleum giant Caltex and pump group KSB Australia have leased buildings at the $1 billion Citiswich Business Park, in Queensland, while about 51,000 square metres of industrial space is being negotiated at the Monaro Industrial Park in Canberra.

Mr Walker’s industrial portfolio in Melbourne – considered the “industrial capital” of Australia – is low, because the developer considers the market oversupplied.

Last month it was reported the Australian Taxation Office will lease office space at a new $750 million development at 735 Collins Street, Docklands, also being developed by Mr Walker.

According to Colliers International research, Coles’ industrial leasing requirement is the biggest put to the market for a year, and after Kmart chose a site in Altona North to build a major 75,000 square metre warehouse.

Melbourne’s industrial sector is both advantaged and disadvantaged by having considerably cheaper rents than other capital cities.

Because of an abundance of developable industrial land close to the city, ports and road network, Melbourne attracts national and international industrial tenants.

But there are plenty of land owners keen to snare existing tenants into new, quickly built factories – giving Melbourne industrial renters more negotiating clout, than tenants have in office, retail and residential sectors. Low industrial rents are reflected in low capital values, too.

Also issuing a major industrial requirement this month is Toll Property, on behalf of Toll Express and that company’s support business, Toll Linehaul.

Toll is seeking separate, but adjacent sites in Campbellfield, Epping, Somerton or Tullamarine, where it wants to build two facilities: a 24,000 square metre transport depot with a 33,105 square metre hardstand component (for Toll Express); and an 1800 square metre office warehouse, with a 16,700 square metre hardstand component, as its Toll Linehaul workshop.

All up, Toll is looking for almost 100,000 square metres of land, or 10 hectares, in the north or north-west, to allow for future expansion. It expects to sign a lease next April, and move into the new facility in May 2012, according to sources. It will exercise any expansion option between 2013 and 2018.

Last month, longstanding Toll Holdings executive Paul Little announced he would resign as managing director in early 2012.

Mr Little has increasingly been dabbling in real estate, with his building company, Little Project Developments, proposing several apartment complexes around town this year.

One of LPD’s most ambitious projects is the Tip Top factory redevelopment in Brunswick, proposed to become a $140 million village with six major towers, including one rising 10 levels. This project has been dubbed “Mini Miami” by locals.