CSR land sale to fuel Sydney’s Aerotropolis dream
Building materials giant CSR has put up for grabs a massive land parcel next to Sydney’s next airport, with enough space to develop a $3-4 billion industrial estate in the heart of the much-heralded Aerotropolis.
A former brick manufacturing and quarry site, the 194-hectare chunk of land is one of the largest tracts of remaining land within the Aerotropolis precinct and could one day be home to one of the country’s biggest industrial estates.
Sprawling over 11,000 hectares in the city’s west, the Aerotropolis zone itself surrounds Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport. It will have new rail stations and a new motorway running through it. With those connections, aspirations for the Aerotropolis are riding high and planning for its CBD, Bradfield City, is well-advanced.
Jennifer Westacott, the former Business Council of Australia chief who now chairs the Bradfield Development Authority, has talked up the emerging precinct as a high-tech manufacturing capital that could rival Singapore’s efforts in the sector.
Manufacturing of semiconductors, 3D printing and advanced packaging are being touted as likely activities within the precinct, generating the parts needed to operate and power technology such as AI.
At the same time, Sydney is desperately short of industrial land. Hoping to capitalise on that lack is CSR, which was last year acquired by France’s Saint-Gobain in a $4.3 billion buyout, ending its six-decade run on the bourse.
“This site forms a key part of our property portfolio and has attracted significant interest from potential purchasers in recent years,” CSR chief Paul Dalton said.
The building materials supplier typically taps its surplus properties to bolster returns, rehabilitating and developing former manufacturing sites for sale, he says. CBRE has been appointed to broker the massive site at 235 Martin Road in Badgerys Creek, which is just next to the airport.
“The timing reflects the remediation work we have undertaken on the site, as well as the need for developers to secure parcels adjacent to the airport prior to the airport commencing operation in 2026,” Mr Dalton said.
Sydney’s shortage of industrial land has become a major gripe for big industrial tenants and warehouse owners, some of whom have abandoned that market for Melbourne and Brisbane.
Already, some 40 per cent of the new industrial development supply due to be delivered in 2025 and 2026 is vouched for through precommitments. The vacancy rate in Sydney’s industrial sector is just 2.1 per cent, making it one of the tightest of any city globally, according to CBRE.
“Sydney has a chronic shortage of industrial land available for development over the next decade,” CBRE’s Cameron Grier said.
“At the same time, occupier footprints are increasing rapidly, with many businesses struggling to find suitable sites that can cater for logistics facilities over 40,000 square metres.”
Momentum for the Aerotropolis is building. Along with around $20 billion of federal and state infrastructure investment into the new airport, there is funding for the new M12 motorway.
Another $1 billion in joint funding was approved last month for a major upgrade of Fifteenth Avenue that provide a crucial connection between Liverpool in Sydney’s west and the new airport.
