Former Kraft site in Melbourne sold to MyCentre for $11.2M to create community hub

The deal follows a competitive expression-of-interest campaign conducted by NSL Property Group’s Guy Naselli in conjunction with Colliers’ Billy Kanakis, Nick O’Brien and Daniel Telling on behalf of a “private owner”.

Agents say the dual-street site sold for about $12 million, but refrained from disclosing the exact sum. However, a spokesperson for MyCentre, spiritual leader Imam Samir Mohtadi, who is also known as Abu Hamza, says the deal was worth $11.2 million and includes a three-month settlement.

The sale reflects growing demand for large-scale industrial land in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, where supply constraints have driven increased competition among developers and owner-occupiers.

MyCentre hub to support 2000 students

The charity saw the opportunity to purchase the site – next door to the Broadmeadows-based organisation’s school, youth centre, childcare and restaurant – as essential for their growth. However, they have called upon their community to assist with funding the acquisition.

“My college is next door. If we did not buy this now, we will never have this opportunity … it was almost compulsory upon us to buy it,” Hamza says in a video post uploaded to the group’s Instagram page.

“What a great opportunity, this could fit approximately 2000 children, students.”

On behalf of the group, Hamza called for donations to help secure an interest-free loan, with hopes of reaching a $9 million target before mid-August. Among its broad range of services, it advertises health services, including a GP and counselling, alongside “Halal matchmaking” from its Kraft Court hub.

From Kraft biscuits to dairy site

The sale marks another chapter in the history of one of Melbourne’s significant food manufacturing sites, which remained linked to the dairy industry long after Kraft’s departure 20 years ago.

Naselli says the property – which features a 12,384-square-metre building with office and warehouse decked out with significant cold storage infrastructure – was most recently used for yoghurt and cheese manufacturing before being offered to the market in early April.

It was home to the controversial Fresh Cheese Company – a producer and exporter of Mediterranean-style cheeses under The Provedore Group – operating from the address for decades until liquidators were appointed in late March. 

The company exported cheese to around 30 countries at its peak, under labels including Mamma Lucia Cheese, Puglia Cheese, Jaycroix Cheese, Apollo Cheese and The Provincial Dairy. However, it was fined in 2022 following a cheese chemical spill in 2018 that left a rancid smell in a Melbourne creek, leading to the axing of a multimillion-dollar deal with supermarket chain Aldi.

The Riggall Street property last changed hands in 2007 for $4 million.

Naselli says the factory – which was retrofitted and improved after its cookie years – forms part of the 11-hectare ex-Kraft headquarters, with a reminder of its brand still visible today bordering its rear.

“The street at the rear of the property is actually called Kraft Court … it was part of a larger estate,” he says.

Kraft shut its biscuit-making factory in early 2006 in a bid to cut costs and moved the production of family favourites, including Chicken In A Biskit and Captain’s Table, to a purpose-built plant in regional China, laying off 151 workers.

Only four years earlier, Kraft Foods – known famously for also producing cheese slices alongside Vegemite from its Port Melbourne factory – had moved into the 1964-built Broadmeadows biscuit factory. It bought out local biscuit maker Lanes Foods in 2002 in a $120 million deal, which saw it take over production of its Nabisco brand.

In late 2006, the site sold for a reported $15 million to a group of private investors headed by Kay & Burton owner Gerald Delany, who transformed part of it into an industrial business park. The original 11-hectare Kraft site initially contained five warehouses, which were subdivided into five tenancies after council approval, with the cheese factory taking one of the spaces.

Behind the Kraft factory, a 25-lot business park, Broadlink Industrial Estate, spread across 10 hectares, was established alongside a new street, Kraft Court, with vacant land parcels sold off around it. 

Land scarcity drives demand

MyCentre runs a mosque adjacent to the property at 31 Kraft Court, among other surrounding assets, and intends to expand its education operations through the acquisition. It also operates the pool, a state-of-the-art gym and multipurpose halls under its MyPulse wellness arm.

“They’re going to turn it into a place of gathering and education,” Naselli says. “It actually forms part of MyCentre Childcare and MyCentre Mosque. They essentially bought the property next door to them … It’s just a bit of extra land for them to expand.”

The campaign attracted strong interest from a diverse range of buyers, reflecting the scarcity of large-scale infill industrial sites in the suburb.

“There isn’t much like it. It’s a sizeable parcel with a 12,000-square-metre building on it,” Naselli says.

“We fielded inquiries from owner-occupiers, people in the dairy industry, food production businesses and developers,” he adds.

Naselli says opportunities offering scale, flexibility and location were becoming increasingly difficult to secure in Broadmeadows, which helped drive buyer competition for the flexibly zoned property, positioned close to Melbourne Airport, the M80 Ring Road, Pascoe Vale Road and Sydney Road.

The Commercial 2 zoned parcel, featuring multiple entrance and exit points and backing onto Kraft Court, allows for a range of future uses (STCA).

MyCentre operates an independent school, MyCollege, next door at 92-96 Railway Crescent, Dallas, which offers primary and secondary education.

It also creates further opportunities for its childcare arm, MyCentre Child Care, which is located on the same street at 3/5 Kraft Court.

The group also has plans to build a farm in Humevale to encourage community farming and conservation.