Hunter Land supports Aldi’s Hunter expansion

Hunter Land is an industrial and commercial property development company that has completed more than $600million worth of projects and has a workbook of approximately $300million in land, building and joint venture projects. It has developed a range of industrial estates including Racecourse Business Park (Rutherford), Thornton Industrial Estate, Cardiff Industrial Estate and Morisset Gateway.

International supermarket chain Aldi has lodged a project application with the NSW Department of Planning to build a $100 million warehouse and distribution centre at a Hunter Land business park at Beresfield.

Aldi has been operating internationally for more than 50 years, with the first Australian store opening its doors in January 2001. There are now more than 200 Aldi stores operating across NSW, ACT, Queensland and Victoria.

What is Aldi building at Hunter Land’s Freeway Business Park?

Aldi is planning to expand its store network in the Newcastle and Hunter region and is pursuing a rollout of stores at Newcastle, Toronto, Charlestown, Merewether and Kurri Kurri.

Aldi therefore needs an adequate warehouse and distribution centre to supply its upcoming Hunter stores. The application says the project will entail a warehouse of 36,400 square metres, a freezer and cool room, an office, plant room, refuse area, a sprinkler tank and pump room, and a truck wash and refueling area.

The building will be about 16 metres tall and operate 24 hours a day throughout the year. There will also be about 300 car spaces.

How many jobs will the project create?

As well as about 300 operational jobs, the project would create about 50 construction jobs.

Why did Aldi choose Hunter Land’s Freeway Business Park?

Located at the northern end of the F3 at the junction off John Renshaw Drive, the Freeway Business Park offers immediate access to the F3 to the south, the Pacific Highway to the north and the New England Highway to the north-west.

Hunter Land founder Hilton Grudgeon said Aldi’s decision to build its warehouse and distribution centre on the 15-hectare site demonstrated how the Hunter was extremely suitable for warehousing to serve northern NSW.

“These areas of the Hunter offer huge potential for companies looking to service large spaces of the state,” Mr Grudgeon said. “Additionally, the Freeway Business Park is less than two hours from Sydney on a dual-carriageway freeway.”