Financial Review, Sunday 16 August 2020
Ingrid Fuary-Wagner
Australian retailer of maternity and baby goods, Baby Bunting, has entered into a pre-lease agreement with Melbourne-based property developer and builder Pellicano, for a 24,307 square metre warehouse and office complex in Dandenong South.
Pellicano will construct the building at its M2 Industry Park at 153 National Drive. The development will comprise a 22,301sqm warehouse and 2006sqm two-storey office space on a total site area of almost 46,000sqm.
Renders of a Baby Bunting warehouse in Dandenong South being built by Pellicano.
The M2 Industry Park is located close to south-east Melbourne’s key arterials, Abbotts Road, South Gippsland Freeway and Frankston-Dandenong Road.
“As is the case with almost all of our facilities, Baby Bunting’s space has been tailored specifically to the client – we’ve made inclusions like the courtyard space of tomorrow, as well as optimised building and environmental design principles, to build on the client’s requests and create their ideal operating environment,” Pellicano managing director Renato Pellicano said.
On completion along with other industrial facilities under development, the Pellicano group will have a total of 600,000sqm worth of industrial assets with a vacancy rate of less than 2 per cent.
The property will include a warehouse and separate two-storey office facility.
Baby Bunting chief executive Matthew Spencer said the site’s scale, design and adaptable workspace would provide the company with the ideal platform to continue to grow the business.
Baby Bunting, which operates 12 stores in metropolitan Melbourne and a further three in regional Victoria, has continued to operate throughout the stage four lockdown in Melbourne.
Last week the retailer reported its full-year financial results with total sales of $405.2 million, up almost 12 per cent year on year.
However, the group reported a drop in profit as a result of restructure costs.