Charter Hall Plots $350m Brisbane Industrial Build

Charter Hall Group has revealed plans for a new industrial site on Brisbane’s south-west after outlaying $80.55 million for the site.

The ASX-listed development giant’s $13-billion Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund wants to develop a $350-million industrial precinct on the site at Darra.

The 17.5ha site would be redeveloped into a “state-of-the-art” flexible estate with 100,000sq m of gross lettable area with adaptable configurations. 

One of last remaining large-scale infill development sites of scale in Brisbane’s south-west, the site is at the junction of Ipswich and Centenary motorways. 

It is next to another Charter Hall development, the now-completed $250-million Connect West Industrial Estate, which counts Australia Post, Goodman Fielder and Cascade among its tenants.

With bulk earthworks completed, CPIF will make the site available to tenants, which Charter Hall expects to be attractive to third-party logistics occupiers, direct-to-consumer businesses and manufacturers.

▲ Private-investor demand drove Charter Hall Industrial to offload its small-scale industrial assets to focus on larger projects such as that planned for Darra.

Charter Hall chief executive David Harrison said the acquisition strengthened the company’s capabilities in the Brisbane industrial and logistics market. 

“[And it] underscores our continued conviction for greenfield development sites appealing to customers from 10,000sq m up to 100,000sq m of lettable area.”

The sale was brokered by Cushman and Wakefield’s Tony Iuliano and Gary Hyland.

According to JLL’s Brisbane industrial market report for the third quarter of 2024, 227,500sq m in new developments reached completion, more than double the 10-year quarterly average. 

Prime net face rents in the city’s Southern precinct are forecast to reach $152 per sq m a year, a 7.5 per cent year-on-year increase, with stable 2.5 per cent annual growth projected from 2026 to 2028. 

Despite wider economic headwinds, JLL predicted that Brisbane’s industrial market was expected to remain stable.

Charter Hall has been offloading small-scale assets, divesting $500-million worth of properties in the past 18 months as it looks to rid itself of non-core assets.