St Hilliers today announced that it has secured, on behalf of its second property fund, an industrial site on the eastern side of Westall Road, Springvale, 22 kilometres south east of the Melbourne CBD.

The 78,933 square metres site has an acquisition price of $22.3 million and upon settlement is expected to be a seed property of the St Hilliers Enhanced Property Fund No.2.

Positioned at the intersection of Westall Road and Osborne Avenue, the property has a 185.5 metre frontage to Westall Road. It is zoned ‚Äö?Ñ????ë??Industrial 1‚Äö?Ñ????ë?¬• and is totally occupied by commercial / warehouse enterprises except for a 10,070 square metre parcel of vacant land, which is available for immediate development. Improvements on the property comprise older style buildings with two of the buildings being less than five years old.

The Westall Road site is the fifth property St Hilliers has secured in Victoria over the past 18 months. In September this year St Hilliers purchased a 6.36 hectare greenfield development site at 966 Stud Road, Rowville for $11 million. The three other acquisitions are older style existing properties with redevelopment potential and were purchased for the St Hilliers Enhanced Property Fund No.1. The properties include a commercial office building at 119 Wells Street, Southbank ($7.4 million), a 2.4 hectare industrial property at 25-37 Huntingdale Road, Burwood ($12.3 million) and an industrial / warehouse facility at 146-148 Sussex Street, Coburg ($10.25 million).

Following the successful launch of the St Hilliers Enhanced Property Fund No.1 in November 2004 and the acquisition of properties for that fund, the company is now marketing the St Hilliers Enhanced Property Fund No.2. Capital raising for this second fund is set to close in November 2005.

St Hilliers Executive Chairman, Tim Casey said: "The Westall Road property is well positioned for the St Hilliers Enhanced Property Fund No.2 to carry out a staged development plan over a number of years whilst income is generated from the existing improvements on the site".

Knight Frank National Director, Graham Hemingway, who negotiated the Westall Road deal stated the property was in a prime location.

"The duplication of Westall Road, which was completed in 2003, has provided greater accessibility to the M1 Freeway and Mornington Peninsula Freeway from the Clayton and Springvale areas enhancing their popularity."

"The adjoining suburbs of Mulgrave, Mt Waverley and Notting Hill have seen unprecedented levels of development, together with rental and capital value growth," he added.

"With the improvement of the road infrastructure, we believe there will be a sustained demand for strategically located commercial/industrial premises as companies seek to relocate from traditional industrial areas in search of efficiencies in distribution," said Mr Casey.

"The properties at Westall Road and Stud Road provide an attractive option for companies in this market as both sites have good access to Melbourne's major arterial roads".