Salta Properties has expanded its industrial portfolio in the South East of Melbourne with the purchase of 690 Westernport Highway, Cranbourne West through Cushman & Wakefield agents, Andrew O'Connell and Peter Sagar.

Sam Tarascio, Managing Director of Salta Properties, said the purchase of this 123-hectare industrial site is a strategic acquisition to continue Salta’s South East Industrial pipeline alongside its nearby 180-hectare Nexus Dandenong South Industrial Estate, the location of the Dandenong South Inland Port, which is currently under development.

“This strategic piece of infrastructure has resulted in unprecedented demand for space at Nexus Dandenong South because of the cost and environmental efficiencies, which clients at the estate will gain as a result of the Dandenong South Inland Port,” said Mr. Tarascio.

“The speed of land take up at Dandenong South is a key driver for our acquisition of the Cranbourne West site, which is located only five kilometres south of our Dandenong South site and 48 km from Melbourne’s CBD.”

Salta will develop 690 Westernport Highway, which is zoned industrial, into a premium industrial estate as per the 2012 approved precinct structure plan.

“Cranbourne West will allow us to continue to offer high quality logistics developments in the South East region that can benefit from the Dandenong South Inland Port,” said Mr Tarascio.

“Clients at both our Dandenong South and Cranbourne West locations will have priority arrangements with respect to access to the Dandenong South Inland Port.”

Salta predicts that on completion the value of the Cranbourne West project will be in the vicinity of $1.2 billion. This is in addition to the $1.4 billion on completion value of its Dandenong South estate.

“Industrial has been the strongest performing segment of the market in Australia for the past three years and it is projected that this will remain the case for the foreseeable future,” revealed Mr Tarascio.

 At present, industrial vacancies are at record lows across the country and the South East continues to benefit from population growth, densification, infrastructure spending and investment demand.

Shrinking supply of zoned industrial land in the South East made this strategic land purchase very attractive for Salta Properties.

“Salta has a strong commitment to the South East as evidenced by bringing the Inland Port and Intermodal Rail Terminal to our Dandenong South Estate, making the region even more attractive to major users of freight infrastructure. By maintaining the 690 Westernport Highway site for industrial use we will continue to enhance the economy in Melbourne’s South East by developing Industrial warehousing,” said Mr Tarascio.

“We are aware of recent attempts by others to rezone the land for residential use, but Salta has no intention of seeking such a rezoning for this land.

“We believe the existing industrial use is completely appropriate for this land, and we are fully aligned with the decision by the Victorian State Government not to approve a change of zoning for this site,” Mr Tarascio concluded.