Taxi giant sells prominent Clifton Hill warehouse to StorHub
EXCLUSIVE
The Gange family, which via its Gange Corporation is the state’s largest taxi operator with various brands including Silver Top, has sold a prominent Clifton Hill property owned twice.
The local arm of Singapore headquartered StorHub, which has a $460 million mandate to invest here, is the buyer; the two storey warehouse on 2425 square metres at 26-42 Alexandra Parade (pictured, top), at the north west corner of Hilton Street, set it back $14.3m.
Gray Johnson’s Brett Simpson was the agent, his off-market deal settling in December – 14 months after a public campaign with a different agency, also seeking that amount.
The land has development upside – up to 10 storeys – but zoned Commercial 2, this can’t include residential.
The result includes GST.
The deal comes eight years after the Gange family paid the Andrews government $5.225m for the site the Napthine government compulsorily acquired from it in 2014 for East West Link.
StorHub trickles down east coast
StorHub, once backed by CapitaLand, began trading in Australia last July with a Rouse Hill, Sydney, outlet. It now owns three facilities in the New South Wales capital – also in Alexandria and Miranda, and one in Canberra.
Clifton Hill will be its first Melbourne centre.
Led locally by 20 year Kennards executive, Simon DeGaris, it has a c$460 million mandate for Australian product.
It now controls a gross floor area here of 56,210 sqm.
“StorHub boasts an end-to-end integrated platform with capabilities to source, convert/acquire and operate,” a spokesperson said (story continues below).
“Over the past four years, StorHub has acquired and developed more than 480 stores, covering a GFA of 655,000 sqm and housing over 70,000 storage units,” according to the buyer.
“It serves nearly 50,000 customers across 17 cities in Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and now, Australia”, they added.
It also intends to invest in Brisbane “capitalising on a robust pipeline of opportunities”.
Diversified self storage business
Besides the self-storage facilities, StorHub Australia intends to provide services for small and medium enterprises, including co-work spaces with free Wi-Fi and printing services.
“The self storage industry in Australia is at an inflection point, driven by multiple favourable tailwinds, including record population growth fuelled by immigration and attractive demographics, increasing residential density and evolving working from home conditions,” Mr DeGaris said.
“These factors are creating a greater demand for modern, flexible and well-located self-storage,” he added.
“StorHub is already a dominant player in Asia’s self-storage in industry and it’s a natural step for StorHub to expand into and grow in Australia,” according to the executive.
“With the conviction of the growth prospects of the industry, support from Warburg Pincus and our strong value propositions to the customers, we believe StorHub Australia is well poised to become one of the leading self-storage platforms in the country”.
StorHub Group was launched in 2019 by Warburg Pincus, also the co-founder of ESR in 2014 (which arrived in Australia four years later, led by Philip Pearce).
Nine months ago, local self storage provider Carl Sachs acquired Abbotsford’s ex-Kodak factory, to occupy and likely extend – outlaying $19m.
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