Charter Hall, Uniqlo sign pre-lease deal at Melbourne logistics hub

Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund has secured a 10-year pre-lease term with Japan’s Uniqlo at its logistics hub in Melbourne.

Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund has won Uniqlo Australia as a tenant at Midwest Logistics Hub in Truganina.

The logistics property boom is rolling on with the unlisted Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund securing a 10-year pre-lease term with Japanese retailer Uniqlo at the company’s new logistics hub in Melbourne.

The agreement represents the second pre-lease signed by Charter Hall, after Toll Group leased a 44,000sq m facility at the Midwest Logistics Hub in Truganina last October.

Charter Hall head of development, industrial and logistics Andrew Simons said the estate would enable Uniqlo to consolidate their operations into a single purpose-built facility.

“This pre-lease to Uniqlo further reinforces the changing nature of retail supply chains with the commitment of Fastline Retailing (the owner of Uniqlo), a global leader in the retail industry, to establish their own facility to manage both their existing national store network and their expanding e-commerce business,” Mr Simons said.

Commencing in early 2021, Uniqlo’s 10-year lease means over half of the facility is now committed. CPIF fund manager Richard Mason said the early leasing success was “extremely pleasing”.

“The Midwest Logistics Hub is the preferred location for national distribution centres due to its proximity to the port and customers and the area’s large investment in road infrastructure,” Mr Mason said.

The announcement follows news that Uniqlo would open its third Perth store, continuing their Australian expansion.

The store will be the casual designer’s 23rd Australian store across four states.

The company said it expected civil and infrastructure works to be completed by mid-2020, while the construction of the Toll facility was on track to be finished by September.

The CPIF is Charter Hall’s largest industrial fund, which sources properties in the industrial and logistics sectors of major Australian capital cities.

The fund’s portfolio is currently valued at $4.6bn across 65 properties.

Toll Group’s facility will act as a distribution centre for storage and dispatch to customers.

The technologically advanced warehouse will store all of Mars Wrigley’s products under one roof for the first time in the company’s history.