The future industrial estate will feature a state-of-the-art industrial facility with premium flexible warehouse and office space. Mirvac envisions this project to set a new standard in industrial property for its amenity, quality, technology, sustainability, and flexibility. 

Campbell Hanan, Mirvac’s Head of Office and Industrial, said, “With the growth of e-commerce and the demand from our logistics and retail customers for premium, ‘last mile’ distribution facilities in Sydney, we are delighted to be able to strengthen our industrial pipeline with this strategic development opportunity, which also enables us to maintain our 100 per cent weighting to industrial in key Sydney markets.”

Mirvac's Auburn industrial site.
The site is ideally located in Sydney’s inner West industrial market. It is close to Auburn town centre, is 3.3 km from Parramatta CBD and 18 km from Sydney’s CBD. Additionally, the site has access to the M4, which connects Sydney’s Western suburbs to the CBD. 

The site’s accessibility will further improve with the $16.8 billion WestConnex project, which includes the widening and extension of the M4, as well as the construction of a new M4-M5 tunnel link, which will further improve connections from the inner West to the CBD, through to South Sydney and Port Botany. The M4 widening project has been completed in 2017, while the new M4 (extension of the M4) project is on track to be completed this year. The M4-M5 link is expected to be completed in early 2023. 

The site’s superior location and accessibility enables it to take advantage of the growth of e-commerce and demand for ‘last mile’ delivery locations. In an article for CBRE, Kathryn House stated that 28% of transportation and distribution costs were in the ‘last mile’. Hence, Christine Miller, CBRE’s Pacific Head of Supply Chain, noted that this consideration of optimum delivery points was influencing companies’ decisions on where to locate their facilities, preferring distribution facilities close to densely populated areas and/or with high accessibility and fast delivery networks. 

Mr Hanan added, “Cumberland Council is committed to generating local employment opportunities and this site has the potential to become a vibrant new employment precinct in the Inner West. With our capability and experience in delivering premium industrial facilities, Mirvac is ideally placed to support the Council in realising this exciting vision and we look forward to working closely with both the Council and the community throughout the planning process to ensure the design integrates seamlessly and sensitively into the existing urban landscape.”

Mirvac’s acquisition is a joint venture with an investment vehicle sponsored by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI). Mr Hanan said that “The transaction will further strengthen [Mirvac’s] relationship with MSREI and see the capital partnership with them grow to approximately $1.8 billion in co-owned assets, based on 100 per cent value.”

The industrial estate is expected to have an end value of $250 million. Mirvac will be working with PAYCE to finalise designs for the precinct and to obtain approvals for the project.

Cover Image: Mirvac’s existing premium logistics hub, 'Calibre', in Eastern Creek, NSW. (Image: The Prime Group)