Apartment site finds new life in data centre boom
ASX-listed Macquarie Technology Group has agreed to pay $240 million for a Sydney data centre campus site.
The deal for the 3.4 hectare Talavera Road, Macquarie Park, parcel is with Holdmark which outlaid $30m in 2014 for a high density residential based mixed-use project.
A 200 megawatt complex is planned; with a c$3 billion end-value, the development would incorporate advanced air-cooling technology with limited water usage.
A MTG subsidiary will settle in coming weeks following completion of the subdivision process.
The deal comes two months since realestatesource.com.au reported Stockland was seeking to replace half of a Melbourne business park with a data centre campus expected to be worth $2 billion upon completion.
In March, Singapore based ZerraDC agreed to buy an 18ha piece of that city’s ex-Ford factory, also for a product of this type.
Pelligra is that seller.
Also for servers, last year, waste entrepreneur Ian Malouf sold a 24.8ha Eastern Creek site to NextDC for $353m while Stack Infrastructure bought an Erskine Park block from ESR for c$142m.
Amazon Web Services, Goodman and IFM Investors – which recently took over ISPT – are other major players in this space.
Change of plan
Holdmark, led by Sarkis Nassif, had planned a mixed-use project for the Macquarie Park site, with 1400 apartments (continues below).
Interestingly, the parcel is near a data centre site Coronation bought last year for a residential build to rent project.
ESR sold that property too.
The outlay was c$85m.
MTG is planning an engineering and technology campus alongside the server facility.
Community infrastructure will include a circa one-hectare park, a community garden and outdoor art gallery.
The property would support artificial intelligence, cloud, hyperscale and government customers while also creating research and learning opportunities with Macquarie University.
Completion is scheduled in late 2029.
Macquarie Park is about 12 kilometres north-west of Sydney’s CBD.
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