Ledlin Puts His Foot on Two Mornington Peninsula Sites

Oscar Ledlin will return to his roots after acquiring two new sites on the Mornington Peninsula. It is a return to home turf for the Ledlin Developments founder and managing director, where he began his property career at age 21. Ledlin told The Urban Developer that he finalised the deals on Thursday, following a five-year pursuit of one site. “There was a little handwritten card that said to lease this property. I called the number and said I want to buy the site, not lease it,” Ledlin said. “I called every six months for five years, then stopped calling two years ago because the site was smaller than what we were looking for.” Persistence paid off when the owner unexpectedly phoned him last month. “He called me and said, ‘You won’t believe it, I’ve been following your journey, and I’m ready to sell’,” Ledlin said. Ledlin is keeping the exact locations and purchase prices under wraps until formal announcements, but confirmed both sites will host boutique business parks. At least one will feature high-quality small format warehouses, with the developer considering his award-winning Flexie unit concept at the second location. The Flexie units which, in 2024, earned Excellence in Commercial Innovation at The Urban Developer Awards for Industry Excellence , were created to solve an affordability problem in the industrial property market. As warehouse prices rose from under $500,000 to $1.3-$1.4 million during the past decade, Ledlin recognised the need to adapt. “The type of business that used to pay $25,000 a year rent can’t pay the $67,000 year rent for the former property,” he said. “So, we removed the amenity from the unit because it becomes more functional space, and we provide common amenity instead, so they still have everything they need.” This approach has proven remarkably successful. At Vermont Inc, Ledlin’s current development in Melbourne’s east , the team hit its pre-sale target in just six minutes after launch “which was very overwhelming for everybody involved, including me”, Ledlin said. Delete The Mornington Peninsula units will target a price point of about $500,000, significantly more affordable than the $1.2-$1.3-million warehouses in Melbourne’s inner south-east and east regions, where Ledlin has focused recently. “It’ll be a good one for our young investor network that can’t quite afford the $1.2 to $1.3 million warehouses,” Ledlin said. “They can obtain an above-ground, permitted-use warehouse with carparking for about $500,000, which is cool.” Despite the lower price point, Ledlin promises the developments will maintain the company’s signature quality with “nice finishes, copper taps, stone, glass balustrades to the office, polished concrete floors, and quality amenity”. The developer’s commitment to infill locations rather than growth corridors has become a defining strategy, despite the temptation of more accessible land in outer suburbs. “As tempting as it has been to buy out in Cranbourne when they list 100 industrial lots and you can pick them off early before titles are available, we’ve fought to stay within infill areas,” he said. While this approach brings challenges—higher land costs, existing buildings requiring demolition, potential contamination, and neighbour considerations—Ledlin believes it significantly reduces sales risk. “When we’ve acquired a site, we sleep easy because we know that we’ve worked hard to acquire a prime asset, which will in turn help us deliver prime assets,” he said. The developer’s integrated acquisition, development and construction model has allowed Ledlin to weather current market conditions better than some competitors. This has proven particularly valuable as the sector experiences significant changes. Delete Ledlin said there’s been a major cooling in industrial land prices after a period of overheated growth, citing a 25-30 per cent reduction in land values from their peak, with potentially another 5-10 per cent decline still to come. “We’re getting sites that were offered for $15 million last year offered to us for $10 million or $11 million now,” he said. This market correction has influenced the company’s strategy to focus on smaller, strategic acquisitions rather than large-scale developments, allowing it to minimise risk while maintaining their quality standards. “We’re acquiring a few smaller sites at the moment rather than committing to anything really large,” he said. “Like many, we’re not 100 per cent clear on what the economic outlook is for the next 12 months. So, we’re focused on buying well and having minimal exposure. We’ll be able to build these things out without debt if we want to. It’s a nicer play for us at the moment.” Ledlin’s success with communal amenities continues to influence his developments. At Vermont Inc, the company is investing over $1 million in shared facilities that become common property after subdivision, including a rooftop terrace, built-in concrete table tennis table, inbound and outbound mail rooms, and a centralised bin system. Delete The commercial carwash would be owned by the common lot owners, with any revenue generated (minus maintenance costs) going back into the owners’ corporation funds. Ledlin believes this system encourages a sense of community ownership. The inbound mail room provides a secure delivery point, addressing what Ledlin describes as “nothing worse when you’re out and about, you get back to your office and see one of those little blue Australia Post stickers saying you missed a delivery.” The secure outbound mail room allows small e-commerce businesses to leave their branded packages for courier collection, eliminating the problem of unsecured packages left outside overnight that Ledlin observed at other developments. “We didn’t realise how in demand and used the communal amenity would be,” Ledlin said about his first implementation at Springvale . “In Vermont, we really raised the level.” The communal spaces foster business communities, with tenants forming connections that outlast the developer’s involvement, he said. With his development portfolio now “well past $100 million”, Ledlin takes a measured approach to growth, prioritising risk management over rapid expansion. “The game that we play as developers is one bad deal can have a material effect on your career. So, I just won’t have a bad deal,” he said. “I know exactly where I want to be in 20 years. If I can get there in 5-10 years, great. If it takes me 15-20, I’m happy with that too.”

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