Villawood, Hostplus to back $350m Morphettville Racecourse development
Villawood and super fund Hostplus will redevelop 7.5 hectares of surplus land at Morphettville Racecourse, the last functioning racecourse in the Adelaide metro area, under a $350 million plan outlined by the South Australian Jockey Club on Monday.
The deal allows Villawood – which The Australian Financial Review reported in June was likely to secure the contract – to deepen its growing presence in SA, where the housing market has yet to tip into decline, by developing more than 150 apartments and 250 town houses and low-rise apartments.
A new community plaza linking the racecourse with the arterial road Anzac Highway, new supermarket, retail and hospitality outlets, as well as a new SAJC-owned tavern and offices will be developed by Villawood and Hostplus in the rezoned land.
Work is due to start next year.
Villawood chief executive Allan Miller, a former state director for SA at ASX-listed developer Peet, said the racecourse’s location on Anzac Highway, with the city at one end and beach destination Glenelg at the other was “excellent”.
The tramline connecting Glenelg and the city runs through the site, giving good public transport access.
The redevelopment is part of a bigger masterplan that also includes a $19 million events centre – the footings for which are about to be poured – to make the home of races including the Australasian Oaks, The Goodwood and Adelaide Cup more viable.
“It’s the last remaining metropolitan racetrack in SA,” Mr Miller told the Financial Review.
“For the SAJC, it’s about reinvesting in the course for the longer term, so it’s a state-of-the-art facility. A lot of these racecourses are about the lifestyle, the entertainment and becoming a precinct in its own right, offering more than horse racing.”
The 150 apartments will be built in three separate towers on the other side of the tram line from the racecourse, while the townhouses will be built along the home straight.
The course that held its first recorded meet in January 1876 fielded 46 registrations of interest for the project and then selected Villawood and Hostplus out of a shortlist of six, SAJC chief executive Grant Mayer said.
“We are excited to be working with Villawood and Hostplus,” Mr Meyer said.
“This long-anticipated redevelopment will enable us to invest back into Morphettville for the benefit of our valued members, the community, the racing industry and the state.”
For Hostplus, which last year merged with SA-based Statewide, a super fund with about $11.9 billion in funds under management, to create what is now a $95 billion FUM fund, the project was important, CEO David Elia said.
“This is a fantastic long-term investment opportunity for our members,” Mr Elia said.
“The project also demonstrates our ongoing commitment to investing in the South Australian economy and the creation of more jobs across a range of industry sectors in SA.”
Hostplus has also co-invested in the $2-billion mixed-use development at Melbourne’s Moonee Valley racetrack. ISPT is the super fund’s investment manager in both the Moonee Valley and Morphettville projects.
Mr Miller said it was too early to say what pricing on the residential component of the project would be, but said he hoped to be in marketing for the homes this time next year and that 15 per cent of the dwellings would be affordable housing, in line with state planning policies.
Previous masterplans for the precinct included the adjoining Gerry Harvey-and Katie Page-owned Magic Millions property, but they decided to keep their site intact, and it was no longer part of the agreed masterplan footprint, the SAJC said.
