Pick n Pay and Fortress co-invest in a super distribution centre development

Fortress Reit’s biggest logistics development to date was signed with Pick n Pay at its flagship premium-grade Eastport Logistics Park, close to OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng.

Scheduled for completion in 2023, the new development will cover 36ha of state-of-the-art infrastructure. Fortress will own 40% of the development, with Pick n Pay acquiring 60% of the new inland distribution site once the subdivision has been approved and the transfer completed. Fortress will fund the incremental capital required for the development from existing available facilities. 

The long-term lease with an option to extend and grow the size and footprint of the facility, is set to “position Fortress’s Eastport Logistics Park and the broader R21 area as SA’s prime logistics hub as allied industries and businesses seek proximity and rational integration into the country’s leading logistics ecosystem,” says Fortress CEO Steven Brown. 

Pick n Pay CEO Pieter Boon says the grocery chain’s newest inland distribution centre is an investment in competitive advantage. Fortress’s Eastport facility will “help us deliver logistics and supply chain innovations, achieving efficiencies and growing market share at a time when faster and cheaper service of our stores has never been more important to deliver on our customer promise of low prices and reliable service.”

This partnership with Pick n Pay puts Fortress Logistics on track to rollout its strategy of developing and owning two-thirds of its portfolio in logistics, “making us the largest owner and developer of core, premium-grade logistics real estate in SA,” says Brown.

The intensified tilt to e-commerce in recent years means that Fortress’s heavy logistics asset weighting has placed it in a prime position to benefit from the rapid evolution in logistics and supply chain that has redefined retail in the wake of the digital and Covid-19 revolutions.

Integral to Fortress’s success through disruption has been “our ability to partner with clients, powering their growth by understanding their challenges and supporting their own evolutions in response to change with world-class logistics boxes tailored to meet their business and service ambitions,” says Brown. 

For more information, visit www.fortressfund.co.za.

This article was paid for by Fortress Reit Limited.