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Mirvac consortium wins bid for ATP

  • November 17, 2015

Mirvac consortium wins bid for ATP

A Mirvac-led consortium has won the highly-competitive tender for the Australian Technology Park (ATP) in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern and has secured the Commonwealth Bank as anchor tenant.

The Mirvac consortium, which includes AMP Capital’s Wholesale Office Fund (AWOF) and Sunsuper, will acquire the 14ha ATP from UrbanGrowth NSW Development Corporation for $263 million.

Under the terms of the deal Mirvac Property Trust will co-invest with AMP Capital’s Wholesale Office Fund and AMP Capital separate account client, Sunsuper, a one-third interest each to fund the $1 billion development of a 93,000sqm campus for the Commonwealth Bank.

In one of the largest office pre-commitment deals ever negotiated in Australia, the Commonwealth Bank will move 10,000 of its staff to two state-of-the-art buildings, planned for completion in 2020.

Commonwealth Bank’s chief financial officer, David Craig, says the deal represents a “major milestone” for the bank. 

“Moving to the transformed Australian Technology Park will put 10,000 of our people in the heart of a growing technology hub, providing us with a significant opportunity to partner and collaborate with universities, start-ups and other innovative companies,” Craig says.

Following the decision to take up space at the ATP, the Commonwealth Bank has announced it will not renew leases at its existing offices in Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park or Lidcombe in Sydney’s west.

Mirvac, as developer of the project, will deliver the Commonwealth Bank development to AWOF and Sunsuper at a capitalisation rate of 5.75 per cent.

As part of the Mirvac consortium bid, Centuria Capital has been selected as co-tenderer to acquire the balance of the Australian Technology Park for $104 million.

Centuria and Mirvac will own separate portions of the park with Centuria subsidiary, Centuria Property Funds Limited, acquiring three existing, fully leased buildings at ATP  – the NICTA Building, the Biomed Building and the International Business Centre – on behalf of a new Centuria unlisted property fund. In addition, Centuria will acquire the freehold interest in the Channel Seven headquarters for its existing ATP funds.

The existing Locomotive Workshop and National Innovation Centre on the site will also be redeveloped.

The Locomotive Workshop will provide multi-purpose, A-grade workspaces for major technology and innovation users and start-up businesses. In order to encourage the use of the ATP precinct as a technology and innovation hub, Mirvac, the Commonwealth Bank and Centuria will establish a $2.1 billion Tech Incubation Fund. The purpose of the Fund will be to enable technology-focused companies and start-up businesses to occupy space within the Locomotive Workshop on subsidised rents.

Planning Minister Rob Stokes says the NSW Government’s aspiration for the site is to “continue the transformation from dilapidated railway buildings to a growing technology hub.”