Hong Kong-listed developer Country Garden Australia is offloading a 364-hectare site, with the potential for 1500-plus homes, in Sydney’s south-western fringe.
The developer, which has rebranded as “Risland”, acquired the significant site in 2017 for a rumoured $80 million. The site, in the rural community of Cawdor, is located about 20 kilometres from the $5 billion Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek.
Country Garden Australia confirmed that it has appointed Matthew Meynell from Colliers and JLL’s John Marcee to drive an expressions of interest campaign for the site.
“Country Garden Australia is exploring options with regards to its land holdings in Cawdor,” a Country Garden spokesperson said.
“As a business Country Garden actively considers its acquisition strategy and is currently seeking sites and projects with greater planning certainty and more built-form outcomes.”
The developer dropped its Chinese parent’s moniker to adopt the Risland name as part of a global rebranding strategy the company says it has progressively introduced overseas over the past 12 months.
Risland Australia will operate as a subsidiary of Country Garden Holdings—China’s largest property developer by sales.
Upon entering the Australian market in 2013, Risland snapped up a 17,580sq m site in North Ryde, launching 830 apartments across three towers. Construction on the $580 million project completed last December.
Along the east coast, the developer has chased land subdivision opportunities, spending $400 million on a 366-hectare site in Victoria’s Wyndham while picking up an 8-hectare site in Cranbourne East in Melbourne’s south east in 2018.
Risland has pushed ahead with the $1.9 billion Windermere project—38 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD— with stage one scheduled for completion by the end of the year. The developer kicked off construction on the 4,700 home greenfield project in October last year.
Risland told The Urban Developer that the first four stages are “progressing well”, while the commencement of stages five to eight are expected this month.
“Several lots in stages nine and ten are being reconfigured. We anticipate that an amended planning permit will be issued by May 2020 and that construction could commence as early as October 2020,” a spokesperson said.
