Andrew Forrest’s Fiveight says it will “reactivate” a 260ha site in Western Australia’s southwest it bought earlier this year.
The mining magnate paid around $7.7 million for the site at Binningup, which is 25 minutes north of Bunbury and 1.5 hours south of Perth, where Forrest recently acquired Carillion City in the CBD.
The Binningup site has 2.2km of beach frontage and includes a closed nine-hole golf course that Forrest plans to reopen.
Head of Fiveight John Meredith said the proposed development had a 30-year timeframe.
He said it had the potential to “create a vibrant and sustainable new community with enviable lifestyle opportunities”.
“This is Fiveight’s first acquisition of a greenfield land development and a project that represents significant strategic importance within the popular south-west tourist region of WA,” Meredith said.
“We know that demand for quality housing is on the rise and will only become more vital as the area grows and develops over time.
“Our mission is to own, develop and invest in meaningful places that connect, and we believe that Binningup offers huge potential to do deliver on this commitment.”
US chemical company Albemarle is planning a 1000-worker community at Binningup as it weights up expanding its nearby refinery. Albemarle is about to produce the first battery-grade lithium hydroxide at the refinery, north of Bunbury.
Binningup may also benefit from the $70-million plans to redevelop the Busselton Margaret River Airport to an international standard, bringing in more tourists to the region. Busselton is south of Bunbury and Binningup.
Fortescue Metals Group has already chartered flights from Busselton to the Pilbara for FIFO workers.
Forrest is also eyeing the Esperance region further along the southern coast for a hydrogen hub similar to the one he has established in the state’s north-west.
Forrest’s green energy business Fortescue Future Industries has snapped up cattle stations in Western Australia’s north-west—Emu Creek Station in the Pilbara and Ella Valla Station in the Gascoyne—for undisclosed amounts earlier this year.
The stations have obligations to under the Western Australian Land Administration Act of 1997 but producing renewable energy will be the main focus with a hub built to power the Eliwana iron ore mine, 170km west of Emu Creek station.
The hub would have 340 wind turbines alongside solar panels across more than 65,000ha with cattle grazing near the turbines.
More than 5 gigawatts of energy is expected to be produced by the hub.
Forrest is also currently going up against the Town of Cottesloe Council to have the redevelopment of the Indiana Teahouse approved.
