Fresh hope for the mild west
Sydney Morning Herald; By Caroline Cummins; 27-28 November 2010
 

NEW developments in Sydney’s western industrial suburbs have breathed life into the sector, which was hit hard in the past two years.

Property developer and construction company Parkview has commenced with the demolition of the landmark Sunbeam factory in Campsie to make way for a $330 million mixed-use development on the site, called Clemton Park Village.

The village at Charlotte Street in Campsie will feature an 8,985 square metre commercial and retail precinct, as well as 700 apartments and 4,850 square metres of open space including roads and footpaths.

New life...the Sunbeam factory in Campsie will be demolished to make way for Parkview's Clemton Park Village.

The development has the approval and full support of the NSW Minister for Planning, Tony Kelly, who said: “The 5.5-hectare site is well suited to accommodate this urban renewal project.”

The development will feature shops, restaurants, cafes, commercial offices and open spaces to create a village, which will be the new town square of the suburb.

The managing director of Parkview, Tony Touma, said the village would also feature 100 senior living units, as well as affordable housing for young people seeking to enter the increasingly tight inner-west property market.

Mr Kelly also recently approved a major integrated development at Marsden Park in Sydney’s north-west.

Sitting on a rezoned 551 hectare site, the Marsden Park Industrial Precinct will include 70 hectares of commercial space, 206 hectares of industrial land, 40 hectares of bulky goods retail land and space for 1,200 homes, along with 63 hectares of conservation land and open space.

This new development is amid signs that strong demand has resulted in an increase in industrial property transactions in the western Sydney market since the beginning of the year, with the majority of properties being purchased by owner-occupiers.

The senior manager for industrial and logistic services at CB Richard Ellis, Matthew Flynn, said CBRE’s latest Sydney Industrial Market View report indicated capital values across the outer north-west sub region recorded a slight increase of 1.1 per cent on average for the first half of 2010.

Grade-A warehouse yields tightened by 23 basis points to an indicative rate of 8.75 per cent for the first half of 2010, while distribution centres and unit estates remained stable at indicative yields of 8.75 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.

Mr Flynn said with the return of market demand to almost pre-GFC levels, an imbalance was emerging between available stock and the heightened owner-occupier demand.

“Increased owner-occupier demand means the time to bring stock to market and achieve a desirable outcome is now,” Mr Flynn said.

“Compounding the imbalance is the lack of new supply, with construction activity expected to be well below the highs experienced in 2008.”

The Market View report says development activity in the outer north-west has been driven primarily by pre-committed projects.

Further demonstrating this demand was the recent listing of a 9200-square-metre warehouse at 42 Lamb Street, Glendenning.