Stockland to buy old, build new Johnson and Johnson Medical HQ
Stockland has agreed to buy Johnson and Johnson Medical’s Macquarie Park headquarters and construct the vendor a replacement in the area.
The put and call acquisition of 1-5 Khartoum Road aligns with the institution’s broader strategy “to up-weight” its workplace and logistics portfolio, Stockland chief executive officer, commercial property, Louise Mason said.
It also builds on the company’s $4.4 billion development pipeline elsewhere in Sydney, and in Melbourne, the executive added.
It intends to create real estate with an end value of more than $1.5b on its new block, which currently comprises sprawling low rise offices.
Stockland expands in “powerhouse” precinct
Stockland owns the sites north of Johnson and Johnson’s.
At 11-17 Khartoum Rd and 33-39 Talavera Rd, these form part of a recently launched, $500 million master-planned technology precinct, M_Park, set to contain multi-level, campus-style offices, retail and warehouses (story continues below).
It isn’t known whether 1-5 Khartoum Rd will become an expansion of that commercial village.
It is also unconfirmed where in the pocket the vendor’s 10,000 sqm headquarters will be developed or if the medical group will own the asset upon completion.
Ms Mason said the deal for the Johnson and Johnson site, at the north east corner of Waterloo Rd, increases Stockland’s profile in the “rapidly growing and resilient” precinct which is “already a powerhouse of employment and economic growth” occupied by pharmaceutical, health and technology focused businesses.
About 13 kilometres north west of the CBD, the area is expected to be the city’s second biggest economy in coming years, the executive added.
With the occupier, the group will apply for the proposed replacement office by the end of this year.
Johnson and Johnson said it will move 820 staff currently spread around metropolitan Sydney to the new headquarters, which is expected to be much taller than its outgoing building.
