Frasers Moves Ahead with $345m Scheme West of Sydney

A six warehouse industrial estate project in Sydney’s Fairfield, put forward by Frasers Property Industrial Constructions, has gone on exhibition.

The $345-million Canopy Estate is planned for Horsley Park, near the M7 and about 15km from the future Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport. It is on exhibition until October 29.

The 32ha site at 1647-1671 The Horsley Drive, 157-213 and 136-170 Redmayne Road and 137-209 Chandos Road is also about 13km south-west of Parramatta and 32km west of the Sydney CBD.

The project proposes about 180,000sq m of gross floor area for 24-hour use to industrial tenants, with a target NABERS rating of 5.5. The development application does not seek consent to fit out the six warehouses for specific industrial activities. A cafe is also part of the plans.

Analysis by Atlas Economics attached to the application suggests that prime industrial rents in Sydney range from $220 to $280 a square metre, significantly higher than Melbourne’s $140 to $240 and Brisbane’s $160-$175 a square metre.

“Sydney’s employment growth in the industrial sector averaged 0.5 per cent over the 2016-2021 period, lagging behind Melbourne (1.2 per cent) and Brisbane (1.1 per cent), attributable to the lack of floorspace delivered year-on-year,” Atlas said.

▲ Canopy Estate would help alleviate a lack of industrial supply, the application says.

“Applying an annual take-up rate of 300ha (the likely take-up in 2022 and similar to demand levels in Melbourne), Sydney has less than one year of remaining industrial land and floorspace supply.”

Frasers is continuing to expand in western Sydney, winning approval for a 63ha, eight-warehouse industrial project at nearby Kemps Creek.

That project, Edge Estate, was upscaled from its original plan of just two warehouses, and now carries 153,343sq m of GFA with a $281-million development cost. It forms a component of the larger $1-billion Mamre Road Precinct in the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.

The Canopy Estate is unrelated to a Frasers group residential project with a similar name at Putney Hill.