This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
SYDNEY’S inner-western suburb of Macquarie Park has landed yet another major amalgamated site sale within its Cottonwood Crescent and Lachlan Avenue precinct, with an offshore developer acquiring a property from 40 owners for around $50 million.
The 5 and 7 Cottonwood Crescent and 8 Lachlan Avenue site encompasses 3,212 sqm and has three apartment blocks with one and two-bedroom units.
Like neighbouring combined sites that have sold for similarly large sums, the latest site to change hands has a potential height allowance of up to 45 metres, as well as a floor space ratio of 4:1.
The sale price reflects an average $1.25 million return for the separate owners.
Apartment owners recently came together to offer their 12-14 Lachlan Avenue and 13 Cottonwood Crescent site, hoping to cash in on developer demand after two previous deals this year for nearby sites netted more than $130 million.
The offering has seen 33 of the 36 units on the 3,172 sqm site, and comprises two detached residential apartment buildings of four levels each, with. It is zoned B4 Mixed Use with potential for a 12,688 sqm development with a height allowance of up to 45 metres.
The new NSW strata title law reforms introduced late last year allow a property to go to market if at least 75% of its strata owners agree to sell, and appear to have eased the path for the sites to have come to market.
In late July, 55 owners became millionaires after selling their 5,130 sqm site at 15-21 Cottonwood Crescent to a private developer for more than $80 million. Not all owners on the site were keen on selling, but the 75% threshold unlocked the potential of the site for a 21-storey tower of more than 23,000sqm with 270 apartments and ground floor commercial space.
The $50 million sale of 1-3 Cottonwood Crescent and 2-4 Lachlan Avenue in January was the first major deal to be landed courtesy of the laws, with 40 of the 45 apartments across two unit blocks part of the initial transaction.
The latest deal comes as a combined site of 2.3 hectares in the suburb, comprising nine industrial units at 6-8 Byfield Street, nears a sale of potentially $350 million. Rezoning could see more than 1,000 apartments built on the site across 92,800 sqm, with a potential height allowance of 81 metres.
Macquarie Park is located 12.5 kilometres north-west of Sydney’s CBD, and is forecast to double its working population of 40,000 employees by 2030, and expand from 850,000 sqm of commercial space to potentially more than two million sqm.
Australian Property Journal
