Goodman's ‘big cities' focus lands it $4b Tokyo airport project
Goodman Group’s focus on developing key pieces of infrastructure in big cities around the world has helped the industrial property powerhouse secure the rights to develop a 70-hectare air cargo logistics hub at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, with an end value of more than $4 billion.
An agreement struck with the state-owned Narita International Airport Corporation and Chiba Prefecture, the local government authority, paves the way for Goodman to partner with the nearby town of Tako to develop a vast business estate to handle cargo operations into and out of the airport.
Due to be completed by March 2029, it will coincide with the opening of Narita Airport’s third runway and broader plans to create an international industrial hub in surrounding towns.
Narita is one of two international airports (the other is Haneda) that service a surrounding urban population of more than 37 million people across Greater Tokyo.
It is another major offshore triumph for Goodman, which has ridden the e-commerce and logistics boom to become the country’s most successful listed global property player with a market capitalisation of $36 billion, more than double that of its nearest rival, shopping centre landlord Scentre Group.
Projects wins like Narita Airport add to overseas successes in Paris, Los Angeles and London (as well as a big pipeline of project secured in Australia) that have helped Goodman double its assets under management to $80 billion in just four years, and deliver annual operating profits of $1.5 billion in fiscal 2022.
Last month, Goodman again defied the turmoil in global financial and property markets, to deliver a ninth straight earnings upgrade at the half-year mark as it reported near 100 per cent occupancy rates in its warehouses around the world.
Speaking to The Australian Financial Review, chief executive Greg Goodman said the opportunities for growth were big projects in global cities, where Goodman can deliver key pieces of infrastructure.
Own for the long term
“Tokyo is a seriously big city, and we will deliver a big piece of infrastructure that we can own with our [investment] partners for the long term,” Mr Goodman said.
“We avoid short-termism and things that don’t create long-term value. This project fits right into what Goodman is doing around the world.”
The Narita project builds on Goodman’s success in Japan, where it is in the final stages of completing a 50-hectate business park at Inzai City, about 40 kilometres west of the airport.
Once complete, the Goodman Business Park Chiba will comprise nearly 900,000 square metres of warehousing with an end value of about $4 billion.
The Narita Airport logistics estate will be of a similar scale and end value, Mr Goodman said.
He said the success of the Chiba business park had helped it secure the support necessary to acquire the 70ha site, which will be known as the International Exchange Complex.
“Adding essential infrastructure and working with the authorities to put master plans together has fuelled our success in Japan,” Mr Goodman said.
Alongside the big project at Narita Airport, Goodman has acquired a 45ha site in Tsukuba, a city just north of Tokyo, where it will undertake a large business park development. It has also started development of 300,000 sq m of logistics in nearby Joso.
All the projects will help replenish Goodman’s workbook in Japan – as the Chiba business park nears completion – and lift the total value of future development work in Tokyo to more than $10 billion.
