Frasers secure PFD for $70m cold storage warehouse in Chullora
Frasers Property Australia has secured its first major tenant at its Chullora site in Sydney’s western suburbs after striking a leasing deal with BRW Rich Lister Richard Smith’s PFD Food Services for a $70 million cold storage and food production warehouse.
The 22,208-square-metre facility will commence construction shortly on a six-hectare site and is due for completion in the second quarter of next year.
Frasers, the Australian development arm of Singapore-listed real estate giant Frasers Centrepoint, acquired the 15.19-hectare site on Muir Road in October last year.
“We are very pleased to have secured PFD and look forward to working closely with them to deliver a state-of-the-art facility that assists them in expanding their reach across Sydney,” said Ian Barter, general manager, Northern region for Frasers Property Australia.
“One of the key considerations when acquiring Muir Road, Chullora, was its central location and the significant benefits this would offer customers in terms of reduced travel times and cost savings associated with freight movements.”
PFD, which distributes food on behalf of Kraft, Nestle, Goodman Fielder, Fonterra, Unilever, Mars, Inghams and many others, is the biggest in the country with annual revenues of about $1.6 billion.
Recently it was reported in The Australian Financial Review‘s Street Talk column that PFD was up for sale with a $1 billion price tag. Mr Smith, who is 76, will rank 67th on this year’s BRW Rich List with an $891 million fortune.
Company consolidating
The Chullora facility is the second major food storage hub that PFD has commenced building this year as the company consolidates its multiple locations into larger, modern, purpose-built cold-logistics facilities.
In January PFD appointed commercial building specialist Vaughan Constructions to build a $36 million refrigerated warehouse measuring 25,484 square metres in Knoxfield, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
PFD CEO Kerry Smith said the new facilities in Melbourne and Sydney would allow the company to continue to service its existing network of customers efficiently and “will enable further growth into the future”.
The new facilities will be built under the direction of specialist supply chain consultancy firm TM Insight. Darren Curry of Savills assisted PFD Foods and TM Insight in negotiating the transaction with Frasers Property in Sydney.
“Both the Melbourne and Sydney facilities have been designed and purpose built to maximise operational and energy efficiency, which will be certain to improve supply chain operations and reduce operating costs,” said TM Insight director Travis Erridge.
“This facility reinforces a clear shift in the Australian industrial property sector, with total supply-chain requirements now driving property outcomes.”
