Charter Hall to build new business hub in Western Sydney

Charter Hall to build new business hub in Western Sydney

22 September 2017

Charter Hall Group has formed a joint venture with Commercial Industrial Property to develop a new business hub at Leppington in south west Sydney, reports the AFR

When completed, the Bringelly Road Business Hub will yield about 80,000 square metres of industrial space and will be valued at an estimated $120 million.

The joint venture partners have secured a 90-lease on the site from the Western Sydney Parklands Trust.

“The new Bringelly Road Business Hub is the third business hub that will create a long-term income stream for Western Sydney Parklands Trust,” said Suellen Fitzgerald, executive director of Western Sydney Parklands Trust.

The development would allow the trust to manage the remainder of the Parklands, Ms Fitzgerald said.

Charter Hall’s chief investment officer, Sean McMahon, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the site is well positioned to benefit from the $3.6 billion federally funded Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan.

“This strategic property located near to the future Badgerys Creek Airport and within close proximity to the M5 and M7 Motorways and arterial road networks, will become one of Sydney’s most highly sought after industrial precincts,” he said.

The business bub would also benefit from increased demand from commercial activities servicing both the Badgerys Creek Airport and residential housing growth, he added.

The Australian reports the project will create up to 670 local jobs and more than 230 jobs during construction.

Meanwhile, Fairfax Media reports that the area around Western Sydney’s new second airport has emerged as a hotspot for warehouses.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the outer-western Sydney region is set to be home to $352.5 million worth of warehouses. That makes it the top area in the country for warehouse building approvals in the first half of 2017.

One of the biggest warehouse plans submitted is Costco’s 14.27-hectare warehouse and distribution centre—the size of about 17 Olympic soccer fields—at Oakdale South Industrial Estate, in Sydney’s Eastern Creek.

The $79.9 million warehouse will become the distribution point for the mega retailer’s other warehouses and its online store when opens in early 2019.

The project is expected to create more than 900 jobs when construction begins.

“Institutional developers are already circling opportunities surrounding Badgerys Creek and so are larger retailers,” said CBRE’s NSW senior director of industrial and logistics, Michael O’Neil.

Jennifer Williams, national director of research at M3 Property Strategists, noted access to the major motorways was driving demand in western Sydney.

“The types of tenants expanding, largely retailers looking for storage and distribution space, require larger space than often available in inner precincts,” she said.