Ascendas REIT Settle land at Macqurie Park

2 March 2021

Ascendas Reit have settled on the land sale contract with Wintens and Frasers Property for MQX4 at Macquarie Park for $17.6m.

The existing improvements on the 3,308 sqm freehold site will be demolished to make was for a nine-storey building, named MQX4, comprising 17,753 sqm of lettable office, 1,631 sqm of ground floor retail space and 204 car spaces. It will also include rooftop office and terrace spaces, outdoor terraces fronting the streets and interconnecting floors via winter gardens overlooking the precinct’s central park.

A Frasers & Wintens joint venture will now complete the construction and leasing of the building via a Development Management Agreement with Ascendas REIT with a funding balance of $149.6m plus a price adjustment subject to the leasing success of the JV.

The contracts with originally entered into in September 2020 with settlement subject to FIRB approval and the registration of a new plan of subdivision for the site.

MQX4 is one of four new buildings that will form the Macquarie Exchange, and will transform a 15,620 sqm site into 83,368sqm of space (gross floor area), connected by intimate laneways and collaboration spaces, all integrated with a central community park.

Designed by renowned architects Bates Smart, MQX4 at Macquarie Exchange is targeting a 6 Star Green Star Design & As Built rating and a 5.5 Star NABERS Energy rating. Additionally, a WELL Silver and Core rating and WIRED certification are being targeted. The project will provide 100 per cent carbon neutral energy to all buildings within Macquarie Exchange.

Reini Otter, Chief Executive Offcer of Frasers Property Industrial, says “Macquarie Exchange will reinvigorate Macquarie Park, enabling the precinct to fulfil its potential as a critical employment and innovation hub for the future, taking advantage of new and existing infrastructure. The sale of MQX4 to Ascendas Reit is in line with our capital management programme and shows the strength of market demand for what’s being created.”

The building is scheduled for completion in mid-2022. The joint venture between Frasers Property Industrial and Winten Property Group will provide a three-year rental guarantee from completion of the offce building in the event of vacancy, with the provision for a capital adjustment dependent on securing leasing outcomes.