Bedford gives up $20m-plus site, leaves new $45m hub in the air after brush with collapse

Bedford will give up land worth more than $20m to developers under its bailout deal – as the future of its new $45m manufacturing hub remains up in the air.

Bedford Group will relinquish a property worth more than $20m as part of its bailout deal, while the future of a brand new $45m manufacturing hub at Salisbury South remains up in the air weeks after the disability services group was due to move in.

In exchange for a $15m injection of funding into Bedford, the state government will acquire the group’s 3.9ha Balyana site at Clapham, which houses around 40 people in supported accommodation.

Property industry sources say the property would be worth more than $20m on the open market, given its size and prime location.

“It’s a premium location close to the city, and the market would expect strong demand from housing developers looking to deliver a high-end residential product, as well as potentially retirement village developers,” one source, who declined to be named, said.

Meanwhile, Bedford’s joint venture development partner on a $45m-plus advanced manufacturing facility at Salisbury South remains silent on the future of the facility, just four months after it announced the project’s completion.

Former Bedford CEO Myron Mann, who resigned over the weekend. Picture: Bedford

Bedford, which owns a 50 per cent share in the property, signed a 15-year lease as part of a plan to consolidate its social enterprises into the precinct, which features a furniture manufacturing area and a food and beverage hub, commercial kitchen and entertainment area for Bedford’s first social enterprise Cultivate Food & Beverage.

Leyton Funds completed construction of the 19,250sq m facility in March, and Bedford has since been fitting it out ahead of its planned relocation.

Leyton Funds managing director Warwick Mittiga declined to comment due to what he described as an “evolving situation”.

The state government’s rescue plan resulted in the resignation of Bedford chief executive Myron Mann, with the board tasked with establishing a new leadership team to work alongside restructuring advisers McGrathNicol to return the organisation to a stronger financial position.

Mr Mann was also the former managing director of iconic Australian Rossi boots manufacturer Rossiter’s – bought by Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart in 2023.

The former Bedford chief executive since February 2022 was overseeing an ambitious $50m Future Bedford Strategy approved by the Bedford board as the group’s finances spiralled out of control.

Mr Mann also oversaw the restructuring and eventual 2020 sale of the family-run Rossiter’s business that had been operating in Adelaide since 1910.

Rossiter staff numbers dropped from 85 to 40 in the four years leading to the sale and Mr Mann was the only person not kept on under the sale deal with Melbourne-based Propel Group – who has since sold the Rossi Boots business to Ms Rinehart.

Bedford is the second largest employer of people with disability in Australia but was on the brink of entering voluntary administration at the weekend, threatening the future of 1400 workers across 22 South Australian sites.

Artist’s impression of Bedford’s $45m advanced manufacturing hub in Salisbury South. Picture: Supplied by Bedford

Mr Mann previously said Bedford was “spearheading major sector change on a national scale” as it created new businesses.

This included a new social enterprise hub built in Salisbury to house Cultivate Food and Beverage and Dovetail Advanced Manufacturing that was completed this year.

Mr Mann was also chief executive officer of Sheridan global home textile company from 1993 to 2002.

Mr Mann declined to comment about his resignation.

Originally published as Bedford gives up $20m-plus site, leaves new $45m hub in the air after brush with collapse