The new Aldi facility will be twice as high as the Western Sydney International Airport terminal
The private Ingham Property Group plans to sell a 50 per cent stake in an under-construction Aldi distribution centre next to the new Western Sydney International Airport, which will be worth $1bn in its entirety.
The huge warehouse is the first in a series of facilities proposed by private developers, superannuation funds and listed developers next to the new airport at Badgerys Creek.
The large complex Ingham is developing for Aldi will serve as a template for the super-sized warehouses expected to dominate the logistics precinct adjoining the airport.
It will feature the latest environmental technology, including solar panels to cover the roof. It’s scale and its proximity to the soon-to-open airport is tipped to win over infrastructure investors keen to partner with the Ingham operation, as well as traditional real estate players.
The massive Aldi distribution centre, the size of 15 soccer fields, is twice as tall as the airport’s main terminal building. It will be central to the German supermarket’s network and Aldi will install the latest robotics technology.
Investors will be offered the interest in the complete facility, making it the largest individual industrial asset ever to hit the market, and comparable in scale to some portfolios.
Ingham & Co is seeking a partner on a $1bn Aldi facility at Bradfield, NSW.
The Ingham family will retain a 50 per cent stake and use the proceeds to back the roll out of more massive warehouses on the overall 182ha site it controls.
The Ingham & Co Industrial Estate at 475 Badgerys Creek Road in Bradfield was bought by the Ingham family in the 1960s which was critical to its NSW poultry operations. The site produced over 50.1 million fertilised eggs per annum and closed down in 2019, with the land turned to cattle breeding.
The late tycoon Bob Ingham sold the Inghams Enterprises poultry operations to private equity firm TPG in 2013, but kept the property development business and 900ha of land across WA, Queensland and NSW. The property business has been transformed into a fully-fledged real estate company with sites in Queensland and WA as well as NSW.
The overall 182ha land parcel at 475 Badgerys Creek Road was part of this portfolio. Ingham Property Group is now a private family business owned by Bob Ingham’s four children: Lyn Ingham, Debbie Kepitis, Robby Ingham and John Ingham
The Aldi project is the first element of the overall estate. The first stage consolidated three normal-sized industrial lots to make a 22ha footprint for Aldi’s new 87,000sq m NSW Automated Distribution Centre.
The building will be over a half kilometre long and 47.5m high which is about twice the size of the new Western Sydney Airport main terminal building adjacent to the estate.
WEM Civil started bulk earthworks in January and it has been handed over to builder Richard Crookes Constructions to deliver.
Aldi has a 20 year lease followed by four, five-year extension options. The facility is expected to employ about 500 staff on two shifts.
Ingham Property Group chief executive Matthew Ramaley said the project’s scale was unique and the proceeds would go to expanding the precinct.
“The fourth generation of southwest Sydney Inghams are excited to once again repurpose their land as the Ingham & Co industrial estate to create skilled employment opportunities for their community,” he said. “At about $1bn, all in, the quantum of investment demands that we diversify our capital commitment across our portfolio,“ Mr Ramaley said.
“This creates an opportunity for a well-capitalised investor with a long-term focus to partner with us on the 40-year lease cycle and participate in the redevelopment of the asset in the next precinct evolution,” he said.
The executive director of CBRE’s industrial and logistics, capital markets division, Chris O’Brien, said it was the largest ever offer in the logistics sector. “This opportunity will be regarded as the most superior offering ever put to the market in Australian industrial and logistics history, and will be considered globally significant,” he said.
He dubbed it the first genuine super prime single asset of scale on the Australian market in more than a decade. “We continue to see significant uptick in occupier demand with the employment land market long having been starved of large footprint development opportunities,” he said.