Frasers Property Industrial has won approval for a second stage development of its $300 million Vantage Yatala estate in south-east Queensland, as the nation’s demand for industrial space shows no signs of slowing.
Gold Coast City Council has greenlit the single 25,250-sq-m state-of-the-art warehouse and office space, which is destined to become a distribution facility for the global tyre manufacturer Goodyear.
FPI, an offshoot of Singapore-listed Frasers Property Limited, said NASDAQ-listed Goodyear had committed to a seven-year lease of the new facility.
In submissions for a development permit for material change in use, urban planners Gassman Development Perspectives said Gold Coast had given preliminary approval in May of 2013 to override the planning scheme for industry uses of the site.
Gassman said the land was largely already cleared to accommodate the industrial subdivision, including bulk earthworks and vegetation clearing.
When the $45-million facility is completed it will provide employment for about 40 staff, including 30 shift workers in the warehouse and 10 within the adjoining office.
In announcing the deal with Goodyear, FPI said the facility would create a workplace focused on health and wellbeing.
The developers will aim for a 5-Star green star design and as-built v1.3 certified rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. The warehouse will include solar panels to generate clean electricity and rainwater capture and reuse systems connected to landscape irrigation and bathroom amenities.
The tenants will have access to more than 2.3ha of open space, 5.5km of running and bike tracks, and outdoor exercise equipment.
Landscaped leisure areas, green space and sustainability initiatives have become a part of FPI’s strategy across its Australian industrial portfolio.
FPI’s Queensland general manager Troy Whalan said Goodyear had been a Frasers’ customer for more than 18 years.
“The deal marks a major milestone as the first pre-commitment for the estate and we are continuing to receive significant interest from a number of light manufacturing, warehousing and logistics companies,” Whalan said.
In research released earlier this month CBRE, the world’s biggest commercial real estate services and investment firm, said Brisbane’s industrial and logistics vacancy rate was the highest in the country at 1.4 per cent. But Australia’s overall vacancy rate is now at a world-low of 0.8 per cent, with Sydney’s rate the lowest in the country at 0.3 per cent.
The vacancy rates have left developers scrambling to get sheds out of the ground, as demand outstrips supply. Australians spent $56 billion on e-commerce in the past 12 months, a penetration rate of 14.6 per cent in a trend that has continued to escalate since the pandemic.
Located half-way between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the 65-ha Yatala estate is just 500m from the Pacific motorway (M1) and will offer 24-hour operations and B-double truck access.
FPI has been in the Yatala area for about five years, attracting transport and manufacturing companies such as O-I Glass, Beaulieu Australia, Oji Fibre Solutions, Reward Hospitality and Schutz Australia to its facilities. The company has more than $137 million worth of existing development and land holdings in the region.
