SINGAPORE - Frasers Property said on Friday that its Australia division, along with joint venture partner ESR Australia, have acquired a 4.67 hectare site at 254 Wellington Road, Mulgrave, in Australia.
The 50-50 joint venture agreement sees property group Frasers Property securing the 245 Wellington Road site, while logistics real estate platform ESR undertakes the development, forecast to be completed by late 2025.
The Mulgrave site has an expected completed end value of A$400 million ($377.8 million) when fully developed including four office buildings, which aligns with the approved development masterplan for the site.
It has received planning approval for 60,000 square metres (sq m) of commercial space, a 752 sq m café or retail area and 2,497 car spaces. The site may possibly include a community hub which incorporates a gymnasium, a restaurant and activated outdoor open space.
Nissan Motor Co Australia has been secured as the site's anchor tenant; it plans to utilise the space as its new head office after 40 years in its current Dandenong South facility.
Its 11,000 sq m facility will be spread across five floors - including the ground floor, of the eight-storey building. It will also comprise over 9,000 sq m office, 1,850 sq m workshop and 550 car bays.
Nissan's building is expected to be completed by May 2020.
Nissan Australia's managing director Stephen Lester said the new head office would not only be a national headquarters for the business, but also for its financial arm Nissan Financial Services Australia, its technical trainers and the Victorian state office.
"Our current office was officially opened in June 1977, so over the 40-plus years that we have based ourselves here it has served us well, but we have grown as a business since then," Mr Lester said.
Anthony Maugeri, Frasers Property Australia's general manager, southern region commercial and industrial, said the new acquisition is "strategically positioned" to offer superb amenities in a location that is well connected to the centre of Melbourne.
"Nissan's new head office will be located within Monash's National Employment and Innovation Cluster, Melbourne's largest concentration of employment outside the CBD," he said.
ESR Australia chief executive Phil Pearce added that Mulgrave is emerging as a growing suburban commercial office market. Securing Nissan as its first tenant also supports the strategy of investing in and developing market-leading real estate and also "underlines the favourable outlook" for the development in the location.
Shares in Frasers Property last traded at $1.84, up 1.1 per cent or two Singapore cents on Thursday.
