Aqualand takes charge at Central Barangaroo as Scentre exits

The Sydney Harbour project is yet to get off the ground amid a tortuous fight over designs.

Property developer Aqualand will take on full responsibility for the Central Barangaroo development after the exit of Westfield shopping centre empire owner Scentre amid uncertainty about the outlook.

The Sydney Harbour project is yet to get off the ground amid a tortuous fight over designs.

The move by Scentre to exit leaves 100 per cent of the Central Barangaroo project in the hands of Aqualand.

In October, Infrastructure NSW knocked back the latest set of designs for the site on the western harbour foreshore. This leaves responsibility to design the retail floorspace in the hands of Aqualand, which is preparing to submit new designs to the state government by the end of August.

A Scentre spokeswoman said the group had agreed to exit Central Barangaroo.

“The group continues to focus on its core strategy to create the places more people choose to come, more often and for longer,” she said.

Aqualand chief executive John Carfi, who also chairs the Central Barangaroo project, said the developer had facilitated Scentre’s exit from Central Barangaroo.

Scentre exited the development after exercising a clause in the arrangement it had reached with Central Barangaroo, amid continued revision of the designs of the project which are likely to see its floorplan further slashed.

The shopping centre owner’s development activities are now focused on its own portfolio.

An artist’s impression of the Central Barangaroo development.

Scentre has plans for centres in Melbourne and Perth, while in Sydney it has schemes for Parramatta, Penrith and Westfield Eastgardens.

Architecture firm SJB is leading the masterplan design process for Central Barangaroo. Mr Carfi said various elements of the designs for Central Barangaroo would affect “what we can and what we can’t do with the retail”.

He said it was clear the scale of Central Barangaroo was not going to be what was first envisaged. A lot of the retail space was going to be underground, while the above ground space was going to face “impediments”.

The October 2022 decision by the NSW government to knock back Aqualand’s latest proposal further reduced the height and size of buildings proposed for the 5.2ha hectare site.

Mr Carfi said Aqualand was open to bringing in a new retail partner and exploring the possibility of further office space in the project in later stages.

“We obviously need to unlock planning as priority number one. Once we unlock planning that sets the deal with the government, then at that point in time we’ll determine a program and determine the funding we need,” he said.

“We’ll keep an open mind in bringing in other partners. We may look to bring in others, but from our point of view is to bring in passive partners.”

Mr Carfi said Aqualand, founded and funded by Chinese developer Shenglong, hoped to be actively working on the site by “the middle of next year”.

“It’s not just the envelope, it’s the fine grain you’ve got to get this right. I think the overwhelming consensus is it’s got to be a place where anyone in Sydney can hang out and enjoy,” he said.

Mr Carfi said there was such uncertainty around future demand for office space in Sydney that Aqualand was keeping its options open regarding whether to install hotel space instead.

“At the moment there isn’t a screaming demand for additional office space, but we’ll keep an open mind on all those uses,” he said.

“If there’s no market, we can transition the product.” Scentre had formed part of the original consortium that won the rights to develop Central Barangaroo when Melbourne developer Grocon was leading the project.

Aqualand CEO John Carfi.

The 2018 deal had seen the $2bn Central Barangaroo project divvied up between the three parties, led by Grocon. Oxford Properties had signed on with Grocon to develop the project’s office towers. But Aqualand bought out Oxford in September 2019 after the Canadian property player quit the consortium amid continued delays.

Aqualand took a stake in the Central Barangaroo project as one of its flagship investments, after being founded in 2014 by Jin Lin as a subsidiary of his father Yi Lin’s Shanghai-based property developer Shenglong.

Aqualand has since forged its own reputation as a developer of luxury projects across Sydney with sites including The Revy at Darling Island, BLUE at Lavender Bay and now AURA by Aqualand in North Sydney.

It also has a commercial portfolio focused on Sydney’s north shore markets, but the Barangaroo precinct is likely to be a mixed use precinct.

Grocon exited Central Barangaroo in 2019 amid dispute with the NSW government over continued delays in securing approval for the “envelope” for the project which required any potential building in the area to be approved by rival developer Lendlease and Crown Resorts, which boasted an interest in the area due to its mammoth casino resort in Barangaroo.

A NSW parliamentary committee, which examined the Grocon-NSW deal, found Infrastructure NSW treated Grocon unfairly and the state government agency “facilitated the entrance of Aqualand into the development of Central Barangaroo at the expense of Grocon”.

Aqualand was awarded a sight lines resolution notice the day after Grocon’s sale of its stake was completed.