The industrial sector is staying hot and Mirvac is after more of the action, announcing the launch of a $370-million industrial venture.
Alongside its existing capital partner, Australian Retirement Trust, the developer is launching the Mirvac Industrial Venture.
Mirvac will retain 51 per cent, while ART, one of Australia’s largest super funds, will invest 49 per cent. It marks an expansion of the working relationship, after Mirvac entered into an agreement to launch ART’s $800-million direct property portfolio.
The seed asset for MIV is The Switchyard in Auburn in Sydney’s west, a $250-million, 14ha project at 300 Manchester Road, for which it won approval in 2020.
Switchyard will deliver approximately 72,000sq m of high-quality industrial space with units ranging between 1600 and 5000 square metres. It is targeting a 5 Star Green Star rating.
Mirvac Group managing director Campbell Hanan said they will look for opportunities to grow the venture, in part by leveraging Mirvac’s $2-billion industrial development pipeline.
“The venture will allow us to build our industrial and logistics exposure, where we continue to see strong fundamentals, redeploy capital into other development opportunities, deliver our current pipeline, and provide additional revenue streams,” Hanan, who is also chief executive, said.
The industrial sector has grown exponentially and remained hot in a post-Covid landscape as lack of space pushes up rents and increases tenant competition.
A report by Knight Frank earlier this month found that industrial vacancy in East Coast capitals fell by 18 per cent over the first quarter of this year to a new record low of 444,681sq m.
Sydney is the tightest market with just 10 per cent of the remaining available space across the Eastern Seaboard.
