$500m park landing at Essendon Airport

May 30, 2007

'THREE major car dealerships in Melbourne's north will relocate to a $500 million commercial park at Essendon Airport, along with several large corporate tenants.

Essendon Fields is a 75-hectare business and industrial park backed by veteran property developer Max Beck and the Linfox Property Group.

The Toyota, Honda and Mazda dealerships will be located side by side on Wirraway Road, in the north of the precinct.

Essendon Fields chief executive Rob Whitwell said the three motor vehicle dealerships would amount to 25,000 square metres, but the area would eventually have up to 100,000 sq m of car yards with eight or nine major dealers.

"What we are establishing there is an 'auto alley'. It will be a significant new-car precinct," Mr Whitwell said.

He said the three dealerships were all relocating from Keilor Road in Niddrie. Building would start soon and was expected to be finished in the first half of 2008, he said.

BusinessDay can also reveal:

■The developers will build a 4500-sq-m mail delivery centre for Australia Post, to open later this year.

■Linfox Logistics will exclusively occupy a 5500-sq-m building currently under construction for its Melbourne headquarters. The company will relocate from Clayton.

■Building will start within two months on a 5000-sq-m 4.5-to-5-star green-rated speculative office block.

■Supermarket giant Coles will anchor the 10,000-sq-m retail development, which includes 15 specialty shops and 700 sq m of offices above. The shopping centre will open in November.

The developers last week opened Essendon Fields House, a $9.5 million 4.5-star green-rated office building at the site. The Essendon Fields developers and Matthews Steer Chartered Accountants will occupy it.

Two government tenants are in final negotiations to lease space in the rest of the building.

The Linfox Property Group and the Beck Corporation bought the rights for a 99-year lease over Essendon Airport in 2001.'

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/500m-park-landing-at-essendon-airport/2007/05/29/1180205250042.html
Image from www.essendonfields.com.au

Key Points:

• Three major car dealership relocated to a $500 million commercial park at Essendon Airport
• With 8 or 9 major dealers eventually occupying 100,000sq meters
• A 4500sq meter delivery centre for Australia Post
• Building Commences in two months on a 5000 sq m 4.5 to 5 star green rated office block.

This is a huge building project for the industry will go together with the already built DFO buildings. This will increase the amount of money that the building industry already contributes to the economy. Good also to see that climate control is now a serious issue with the industry where more and more energy efficent buildings will hopefully be built.