Asian group expands Australian holdings with $150m Horsley Park site
Asian logistics property group ESR has boosted its local property pipeline to $1.8 billion with the purchase of a near-$150 million land parcel in the western Sydney suburb of Horsley Park.
The company has snapped up a prime 20.8ha development site from building materials company CSR for $142.5m and is aiming to capitalise on demand for space in the area.
ESR Australia chief executive Phil Pearce says the company is “well-positioned” to develop premium logistics properties in high-demand, low-supply locations for its customers.
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The company has bought a series of sites in Sydney’s western suburbs that can benefit from the planned Western Sydney Airport and is also buying in Melbourne and Brisbane.
“We will continue to add to our land bank to ensure ESR is well-positioned to keep capitalising on the opportunity that the Australian market offers with an established presence, substantial team of experts on the ground, and proven capabilities in Australia,” Pearce says.
ESR is pitching the site is ideally located for a logistics hub. The company hopes what it has dubbed the ESR Horsley Logistics Park will become a premium distribution park of about 110,000sq m of space across up to six separate warehouses.
The company said that the ESR Horsley Logistics Park would enable customers to benefit from significant infrastructure investment by the government in western Sydney, including WestConnex, Sydney Metro, Moorebank Intermodal, and the planned airport.
“The land is a prime site for distribution and logistics,” Pearce says, adding it could suit a $300 million development for third party logistics companies, retailers and e-commerce companies.
ESR Australia chief executive Philip Pearce. Picture: James Croucher
“The airport will add another layer of demand,” he says.
The parcel at 327-335 Burley Rd, Horsley Park, is near major transport links including the M4 and M7 motorways.
Since entering the Australian market, ESR has integrated the Propertylink and Commercial & Industrial Property into its local business. ESR’s other key focus has been actively expanding its land bank despite spiralling land prices.
ESR has been selling off completed developments and buying land in major industrial precincts in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Its purchases includes 21.5 ha at 59-63 Abbotts Road, Kemps Creek in outer western Sydney, with the area earmarked for the next phase of the western Sydney industrial markets.
It also has 6.5 ha at 45-49 McNaughton Road, Clayton, Victoria. ESR’s business hub is in the broader Monash National Employment Cluster, with established education, health and research facilities.
It also has 8.7 ha at 186-224 Ingleburn Road in western Sydney’s Leppington, close to the train station and future town centre. Leppington is also considered a beneficiary of the new Western Sydney Airport,
In Queensland, it has also bought in Willawong and Berrinba that has access to the Logan Motorway.
The above acquisitions total about 70ha and will provide close to 330,000 sqm of logistics space, bringing ESR’s total development pipeline in Australia to about $1.8bn.
ESR listed in Hong Kong after hefty oversubscriptions to its initial public offering in late October which raised $US1.6 billion and in which OMERS Administration Corporation participated as a cornerstone investor.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
