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Time & Place this week added to its industrial development portfolio, securing a historic Ford site in Melbourne’s Campbellfield for a planned $250-million development.
The Melbourne-based developer bought the Ford Motor Company of Australia’s 15.9ha distribution centre at 1777-1787 Sydney Road, Campbellfield, 17km north of Melbourne’s CBD.
The property is home to three warehouses built between 1962 and 1999, with existing buildings covering 56,819sq m or 36 per cent of the site.
The sale was brokered by CBRE’s Andrew Bell and Chris O’Brien after Ford relocated its parts distribution and warehousing operations to a new Mickleham facility.
Time & Place director Chris O’Keefe said the “acquisition aligns with our commitment to high-quality industrial assets in key growth corridors”.
The site’s redevelopment will target industrial and logistics tenants seeking to capitalise on established transport connections.
“We have always loved the challenge of taking a site with a rich history and reworking it into something fresh and exciting,” O’Keefe said.
“These kinds of projects are the ones that really inspire us as a team and push us to create something special. Our vision is to breathe new life into this site, supporting the future of the community and the local economy.”
The property holds significant historical value, according to Time & Place, “having been a pivotal location for Ford’s Australian operations for decades”.
“Supporting the logistical needs of a former hub of automotive manufacturing, it played an important role in Melbourne’s industrial growth, leaving a lasting imprint on the city’s economic and cultural fabric.”
“Our focus is on creating a balance between honouring the site’s history and adapting it for contemporary industrial needs,” O’Keefe said.
Time & Place said it would lodge a planning application this quarter, with completion of the precinct expected by 2028.
Ford would maintain a presence on the site, continuing its service engineering operations in one of the buildings under a multi-year lease deal.
Further details about leasing opportunities and site plans would be announced in the coming months, the developer said.
The acquisition follows Ford’s 2019 sale of a 60ha portion of its former manufacturing plant for $82.1 million to Pelligra, which, in partnership with Qualitas, plans to develop a 600,000sq m business park called Assembly.
While “strengthening the company’s industrial portfolio remains a key strategic driver of our business”, according to O’Keefe, Time & Place continues its broader development strategy across residential, industrial and commercial sectors.
The developer is currently working on the redevelopment of Melbourne CBD’s Hotel Lindrum with Kapitol and has acquired Sydney’s Marlborough House building, the original David Jones warehouse, with investment from James Packer.
The Urban Developer understands that a Mascot asset transacted recently for which Time & Place was the development manager but not the vendor sold for $33 million.
Colliers’ Trent Gallagher, who brokered the deal, said the 4047sq m site at 253 Coward Street, “generated significant interest from a large cross-section of developers” interested in the “number of potential future uses given the dynamic Mascot location”.
The site, previously occupied by truck company Hino and most recently by Ice Zoo Sydney, had received approval for an 11-level office building with ground-floor retail, totalling 16,287 square metres.
