John Holland to reap $320m in Macquarie Park sale

The group, which is developing the building that will be occupied by the NSW government, is undertaking the overall $1 billion precinct in the heart of Macquarie Park.

The move is in keeping with its strategy to sell off near-complete buildings and pour the proceeds back into its expanding development pipeline.

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John Holland’s executive general manager, development and investments, Tom Roche, says Macquarie Square “will set a new standard for Sydney’s second-largest CBD, bringing the first A-grade office building to the region”.

“John Holland is proud to be the developer and builder of this iconic new precinct, arriving to market hot on the heels of the record sale of 275 George Street last year,” he says.

The group sold that 18-storey tower in the Sydney CBD to Japan’s Daibiru Corporation for close to $240 million at a crisp 4.5% cap rate.

The first stage of John Holland’s Macquarie Square development has been pitched as the area’s first CBD-quality A-grade, 35,000sqm office building.

It is anchored by a 25,000sqm precommitment from the NSW government and also sports a new public park. Real estate agents JLL and Colliers International will handle the sale.

John Holland is expanding its development team and pipeline across Australia with live bids including the Waterloo over-station development, where it has teamed with Mirvac and is against Chinese rival Aqualand-CPB.

It is bullish about Macquarie Park’s strong rental growth and low vacancy levels. The A-grade office vacancy rate is 3.6% and the tightly held precinct is geared for significant rent growth.

More than three-quarters of the office stock is owned by top-tier players such as Goodman, Frasers, AMP Capital, Stockland and Mapletree.

Developers including Frasers, Stockland and Goodman also believe in the area’s long-term prospects.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.