Outgoing Pakenham Racecourse and Showgrounds Site Close to Sale For Circa $30 Million

Details of the new purchaser have not yet been disclosed but sources expect only an experienced developer or listed group would take on the major developments proposed to replace the racetrack site

PRC is negotiating with the buyer direct, bypassing agents including the one it appointed to find buyers in 2010. It’s believed PRC has negotiated a long settlement with the new buyer.

When the site was first offered for sale in September 2010, at a more buoyant time in the development site sector, it was expected to fetch about $50 million. PRC chief executive Michael Hodge was unavailable when contacted by Capital Gain.

Bound by Henry Street, Racecourse Road and Railway Avenue, the prominent site is selling with a council rezoning permitting the new owner to build medium density housing, as well as commercial space, including offices, and retail.

The site is within the Pakenham Town Centre area defined by the Cardinia Council, and is expected will be redeveloped into a Master Planned Community with an end value of more than $500 million.

Sale of the Pakenham site is required to fund the PRC’s development proposal for a much larger 243-hectare site, at Tynong, about 16 kilometres east from its outgoing home. The first stage of that redevelopment is expected to cost $44 million.

Elsewhere in Melbourne, recently, planners have unveiled plans for high density, residential-based developments on part of the Caulfield racetrack in Caulfield East, and Moonee Valley in Moonee Ponds, which are also both near train stations, but much closer to town.

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Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.