Jandakot Airport planning $40m Kmart centre

Department store chain Kmart is set to move its Western Australian distribution centre from Canning Vale to Jandakot, with plans in motion to establish a $40 million facility at Jandakot Airport.

Jandakot Airport owner Ascot Capital has released a draft major development plan for the centre, prepared by Urbis, with the facility flagged to be located on the corner of Berrigan Drive and Spartan Street.

If approved for construction, the distribution centre would comprise a 38,035 square metre warehouse, 20 covered receiving bays and 46 covered container loading bays.

It would also include around 1,075sqm of commercial office space over two levels.

The centre is designed to support Kmart’s network of 23 stores in WA, as well as three to four new outlets which are in the chain’s short-term planning pipeline.

Around 90 jobs are expected to be created during the facility’s construction phase, while once complete, it will require around 120 staff to operate.

“The new distribution centre will enable Kmart to consolidate local operations and centralise the distribution hub for Western Australia, providing cost and operation efficiencies for the business in a new state-of-the-art facility that will facilitate the proposed growth of the store network,” the draft plan said.

“The location at Jandakot Airport offers significant locational advantages associated with efficient connections into the regional road network.

“Staff will be relocated from the existing facility in Canning Vale, and this location will assist in maintaining the existing and experienced workforce due to its relatively close proximity.”

The site is located in Jandakot Airport’s commercial development precinct and is a significant distance from the Jandakot airfield.

The land has already been cleared and is ready for development, according to the master plan.

Kmart, which is a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Wesfarmers, operates an existing distribution centre located on Bannister Road in Canning Vale.

The Kmart centre follows the approval earlier this year of a similar distribution centre at Jandakot Airport for incoming discount supermarket chain ALDI, which is being built by Georgiou Group.

Construction of the ALDI distribution centre began in October this year, with the 50,000sqm facility due for completion in early 2016.

The first WA ALDI stores are scheduled to open midway through that same year.