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Charter Hall's (ASX: CHC) wholesale industrial and logistics fund, CPIF, has acquired a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) life sciences campus in Boronia, Melbourne for $106 million.
The facility is currently used by GSK as a manufacturing hub and will be leased back to the biotech company for 2.3 years post-sale.
The site consists of a 16.8ha property with 33,878sqm of pharmaceutical grade, campus style improvements comprising a mixture of high-clearance warehouse, corporate office and laboratory accommodation.
"We are delighted to secure this strategic site from GSK. This increases our exposure to the rapidly growing life sciences sector and is a further demonstration of our ability to work with corporates to deliver efficient solutions to their property requirements," Charter Hall chief investment officer Sean McMahon said.
"We look forward to working with GSK as they transition from the site and engaging with the life sciences industry to pursue alternate operators to create a key pharmaceutical manufacturing and business hub.
"In parallel, we will investigate other employment related uses in this zone that will compliment this precinct."
The high-profile land holding is located in the tightly held, land constrained infill location of Boronia and is one of the last remaining industrial zoned land holdings of significant scale in Melbourne's East.
The site sits on Mountain Highway which provides access to the CBD and is within close proximity to the Eastlink which connects the Eastern, Monash and Peninsula Link Freeways.
"The site provides CPIF will multiple strategic options following GSK's departure in late 2023," CPIF fund manager Richard Mason said.
"There is potential for substantial future redevelopment and repositioning opportunities to expand or reconfigure the existing improvements, given its large land holding and low site coverage.
"The acquisition is in line with CPIF's strategy to increase its geographical exposure to core eastern seaboard markets, being one of few opportunities of significant scale in the tightly held Eastern Melbourne industrial market where prospects for rental growth are considered strong and historical trend for valuation growth has typically outperformed the broader industrial market."
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