Development thrives in the City of Melton

Whether you are a business owner in the City of Melton, a regular or an occasional visitor of our city, or someone who follows our newsletter from afar, thank you for your interest in the City of Melton and we hope you will continue to follow our economic development story into 2024 and beyond.

With so many permits issued for exciting projects, many of which will start to take shape next year, we can’t wait to share more good news stories with you as we celebrate the significant investment that the City of Melton continues to attract.

For now, let’s go back and remind ourselves of some of the key development milestones that were reached this year.

New businesses open along Banks Drive Diggers Rest 

The commercial development along Banks Dr is coming to life with an IGA, real estate agent, pizza bar, gym, barber and a nail studio already operating. During a recent visit, we also noticed that works were underway in two of the currently vacant showrooms. Signage and trades people on site indicate that in the near future, a swim school and a café will add to the amenity and mix of services that residents and visitors will get to enjoy.

Business owners and investors can expect this area to transform into a thriving town centre in future as landowners and developers explore the future development of the town centre, which will be vital as the Diggers Rest population is set to double from currently 6408 (2023, forecast.id) to over 12,700 in 2051.

We encourage you to shop local and support the traders when visiting Diggers Rest or passing through. If you are looking for investment opportunities, be sure to consider Diggers Rest in your expansion or start up planning.

Banks Drive, Diggers Rest, has a relaxed feel and a growing and diverse business mix

Construction underway for CS Square’s latest extension

In February we reported that construction had begun on CS Square’s extension, CS Hub – a new retail and commercial office precinct running along Lake Street and Commercial Road, Caroline Springs.

At the time, DeGroup Chief Operations Officer, Ben DeLutis said it was exciting to see construction to be starting at CS Hub.

“With the precinct being just a minute’s walk from the existing shopping centre, CS Hub will solidify Caroline Springs as the go-to shopping precinct in the City of Melton.”

It’s great to see how much the construction now being completed with many tenants busy working on their fitout and opening plans. We look forward to seeing the increased retail offering manifest at suburb level data within our Spendmapp data subscription, stay tuned for a Caroline Springs spending update in 2024.

Lake St, Caroline Springs: DeGroup have completed construction of CS Hub

Congratulations to the following businesses which we have been advised will be part of CS Hub:

More announcements on the Development of CS Hub to follow.

Goodman breaks ground on Australia’s largest wholesale distribution centre

Since breaking ground on the first development at Goodman Group’s Riding Boundary Road Hub (RBR Hub) in February 2023 Goodman have continued to attract big names to RBR Hub with Super Retail Group, (the organisation behind iconic brands rebel, macpac, BCF and Supercheap Auto) and Provincial Home Living announced as estate tenants later in the year.

At the time of the Metcash ground breaking, Metcash Group CEO, Doug Jones said, “Today represents a huge milestone for Metcash and our food and liquor retail networks in Victoria. The new mega distribution centre will house a wider range of products and deliver greater efficiencies in serving close to 4,000 stores and premises in Victoria.”

RBR Hub will create 3200 ongoing jobs upon completion and add $1.3b+ to the economy during construction

Citinova brings new retail landmarks to Melton

The middle of 2023 was a time of rapid change for the eastern end of High St, Melton. Anchored by blue-chip tenant Bunnings, the West Pines estate has continued to evolve and now features a diverse business mix, with many more large format retail stores and a childcare centre to open during the first quarter of 2024.

Repco Melton will soon open at their new site in the Westpines estate

Developers Citinova have more development planned in stage 2 of this project, including a future business park, and have also started advertising their neighbouring Junction SixtyFive development which boasts dual frontage to High Street and the freeway.

Once fully developed the area will connect seamlessly to the future suburb of Melton East, which will provide approximately 12895 residential lots and support 1500-2000 jobs in addition to hundreds of jobs that will be created at West Pines and Juction SixtyFive.

Westcourse Industrial Estate, a $300m Ferris Road Development

Just down the road from the new retail landmarks mentioned above, on the other side of the Western Freeway, Westcourse is a $300m, 23.4ha development, zoned for industrial and restricted retail use.

Marketing started in spring 2023 with developers Fraser Property Group emphasising the direct connection to key road networks and a rapidly growing and skilled local workforce as some of the key features that will make this location attractive to investors. We are certain that demand for this location will be strong and we encourage local medium sized businesses looking to grow to consider opportunities in this estate and contact the group.

Frasers Property Group is seeking investment for Westcourse – Keeping your business on course.

Stockland Welcomes New Aim to Melbourne Business Park

In October Melbourne Business Park developers Stockland welcomed stakeholders to a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the completion of the estate’s first site, New Aim’s new distribution centre.

(l-R) Tony D’Addona (Exec. General Manager Logistics, Stockland), Luba Grigorovitch MP (Member for Kororoit),  Fung Lam (CEO, New Aim), Cr Lara Carli (Mayor, City of Melton), Anthony Osborne (Senior Development Manager, Stockland)

New Aim CEO Fung Lam said the business planned to operate its “business-to-many” model from their new site, partnering with more than 40 Australian online marketplaces and omnichannel retailers to dispatch goods to business customers and direct consumers across Australia.

The New Aim warehouse will also be stocked with the company’s own products ranging from furniture, gym equipment, bedding and power tools.

Dexus Celebrates Project Completion for Elders & Lululemon

Continuing the momentum at their Horizon 3023 Industrial Estate in Ravenhall Victoria, Dexus celebrated the Practical Completion of the Elders premium wool facility in August 2023. Elders' premium 35,000 square metre facility (pictured below) is the first of its kind in the world, with technology capable of processing and storing 60,000 bales of wool.

More recently in December, Dexus welcomed American-Canadian brand lululemon (pictured below, right hand image) by announcing the Project Completion of their new 23,000 square metre national fulfilment centre, which incorporates environmental sustainability features, including a 200-kilowatt roof top solar array.

Horizon 3023 is located one turn off the Western freeway, supporting the distribution channels of premium brands including Amazon, HelloFresh, Elders, Nike and Electrolux Group with accessibility to Port of Melbourne and Melbourne Airport.

Harvey Norman comes to town

In July we announced that Harvey Norman will be the anchor tenant in the stage two development of the Melton Homemaker Centre. There has been a lot of progress on the site since then, as you can see from the image below which was taken in November 2022. Reach out to the agents at Leedwell to find out more about this project and explore what’s on offer.

Industrial Land Ideal for Small-Medium Enterprises

Throughout the year we have been featuring real estate ads, listings and billboards that grabbed our attention and interest on our Venture Melton facebook page. These included opportunities along License Rd and Craftsman Drive in Diggers Rest, many opportunities in proximity to High St Melton and industrial land of 3000-6000sqm for lease in close proximity to global companies, just to name a few.

Please contact us if you require assistance in finding your City of Melton investment opportunity, your new office, or a bigger warehouse. We are here to support you and will gladly make some introductions to local developers or experts in the local commercial and industrial real estate sector so they can guide you into the right direction.