South Australia’s evolving urban fringe has played host to a series of fast-tracked industrial projects and for Adelaide-based developer Domenic Merlino the Pennington and Santo projects marked two of his most ambitious.
Each site brought its own complexities. In Pennington, Dom delivered an impressive nine new warehouses, adding more than 20,000sq m of high-quality industrial space to meet surging demand.
The size of the warehouses meant that future tenants wanted to see the project begin before committing to leases.
This is where Woodbridge Capital stepped in to provide a flexible funding solution to get the project started.
In Santo, the vision was different. A prime high-exposure corner site delivering 31 industrial warehouses, setting a benchmark with unprecedented internal clearances ranging from 7.75m to 11.5m—a first of its kind in the market.
“Both projects had very different profiles but what they shared was the need to keep momentum,” Merlino (pictured top, on left) said.
“There’s only so much you can control in this environment but Adelaide has an undersupply issue and I wanted to deliver both projects as soon as possible to meet the strong market demand.”
Merlino worked with Woodbridge Capital across both projects, citing their ability to offer bespoke funding structures and engage directly with decision-makers.
Woodbridge has backed Merlino for loans to date of circa $110 million across these projects and others that have already repaid.
“They aren’t just funders; they were part of the process and really allowed me to start both projects as early as possible.
“Having direct access to decision makers and the ability to tailor different loan structures to suit each project really made it easier to stay focused on delivery.”
According to Woodbridge’s Matthew Samuels (pictured top, on right), the success of the projects came down to clarity and communication.
“Dom had a clear plan and a strong handle on his costs, which makes for a good match with how we work.
“We supported Pennington through to a successful bank refinance and the Santo project continues to achieve strong sales rates.”
Both projects are complete, with Pennington substantially leased and Santo nearly fully sold across Stage 1.
For Merlino, they represent more than just finished products—they’re a marker of what can be achieved with the right design, lender, timing and tenacity.
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