Offshore-Backed Syndicate Pays $70m for Craigieburn Site

A developer syndicate believed to have offshore backing has bought a 21ha former farm in Melbourne’s north for $70 million—a significant increase from the $167,500 the vendor family paid in 1994.

The site at 185 Brookville Drive, Craigieburn, is about 30km from the Melbourne CBD. It sold after an expressions-of-interest campaign that ended last month.

Approximately 15.5ha of the Commercial 2-zoned land is developable, valuing the usable portion at $452 per square metre.

The property is near the Donnybrook border within the Craigieburn North Employment Precinct, which is under an approved precinct structure plan that encourages commercial and residential development on former rural sites.

Craigieburn has transformed significantly since 1994, evolving from a predominantly agricultural region into a growth corridor with shopping centres and thousands of new homes.

The subject site has 450m of street frontage along a major arterial road carrying more than 50,000 vehicles daily.

Surrounding landholders include Amazon, Cadence, ESR and Goodman, with MAB Corporation and Gibson Property Group’s Merrifield industrial estate also nearby. The former Victorian Quarantine Hub sits on adjacent land.

RPM’s Zaynoun Melhem, who marketed the property, said interest came from data centre developers and operators based in Japan, Singapore and the US. The buyer is said to be from India.

The sale is one of the region’s most substantial rural-to-development land transactions, reflecting strong institutional demand for sites within established employment precincts in Melbourne’s northern growth corridor.

Northern corridor growth

The sale aligns with Victoria’s 10-year plan to unlock more than 5800ha of industrial land across the state, targeting $9.5 billion in investment and the creation of 100,000 jobs by 2035.

▲ A rendering of a residential community at MAB Corporation and Gibson Property Group’s Merrifield estate.

The strategy focuses on Melbourne’s northern and western growth corridors, with key metropolitan sites including Merrifield North, which is next to the Craigieburn property.

Victorian planning minister Sonya Kilkenny said the plan established a timeline for land release and rezoning, supported by faster planning approvals and co-ordinated infrastructure delivery.

Protection measures for valuable industrial land through zoning controls would enable freight, logistics and manufacturing industries to expand across designated employment precincts.

Development activity across Melbourne’s northern corridor extends beyond commercial and industrial uses.

Kilkenny approved the Greenvale North (Part 2) Precinct Structure Plan in September, which would deliver more than 300 homes across 33ha about 23km north of the CBD.

The neighbourhood would connect with existing communities at Greenvale North and Craigieburn West, forming part of the state’s 10-year greenfields strategy targeting 180,000 new homes to address projected demand for 2.24 million homes by 2051.

Developer-builder Oreana began construction in January on the $75-million Botanical Village Town Centre at nearby Mickleham, scheduled to open in early 2026.

The 7415sq m centre would be anchored by a Coles supermarket and comprise 25 specialty stores, responding to a trade area where retail expenditure is forecast to reach $619.8 million by 2041.