James Fielding Group has gained approval for a 194,000 square metre major regional shopping and lifestyle development to be known as Orion, located in Greater Springfield approximately 25 kilometres south west of Brisbane.
The planning was approved by Ipswich City Council.
The development of Orion is a significant opportunity and represents the largest development undertaken by the Group to date.
The development will incorporate main street retailing along with a town square and town plaza providing an open air lifestyle environment as well as traditional shopping centre precincts and bulky goods tenancies.
The Springfield development will be completed in four or five stages over a 10 to 12 year period will feature, in addition to its retail core, entertainment, commercial, civic, community and residential facilities with a total expected value of between $600 – $800 million.
This unique project heralds the commencement of Greater Springfield’s Gateway CBD – a 320 hectare site twice the size of Brisbane s CBD.
The Orion project will be developed by James Fielding Developments, in partnership with Catylis, a specialist development and project management company.
Orion – Stage 1 will consist of approximately 20,000 square metres of core retail facilities, 30,000 square metres of bulky goods facilities and parking for up to 1,700 cars.
The retail precinct will be anchored by a Woolworths Supermarket (4,250 square metres), a Big W Discount Department Store (8,000 square metres) and approximately 75 specialty retail shops. Estimated development cost for Orion – Stage 1 is $150 million and will be funded by syndicating the development with investment opportunities made available to a range of institutional and retail investors.
On completion, the Orion development will be jointly owned by James Fielding Trust (67%) and JF Meridian Trust (33%). Orion – Stage 1 will commence in early December 2003 with site clearing and will take around two years to complete. All stages of the development are expected to be completed by 2012.
As part of the regional town centre, Orion will help to capture some of the $370 million in retail expenditure that escapes Ipswich each year, and will in fact create a new stream of retail expenditure, meeting the booming demand for a wider range of big box and other emerging retail demand.
“Springfield Land Corporation the visionaries behind Greater Springfield – should be congratulated for its vision and Ipswich City Council for its can-do attitude and for seizing the opportunity to address the critical issue of the export of retail expenditure and jobs from Ipswich, and bringing them back for local benefit, employment and economic growth,” says managing director for the James Fielding Group Greg Paramor.
According to JFG, In time, Orion would provide in the vicinity of 3,000 jobs, in retail, leisure, entertainment, hospitality, tourism and industry, and that this would inject great prosperity, opportunity and growth into the region.
“It will accommodate all major retail activities and feature a fully integrated shopping, entertainment and lifestyle zone,” he says.
Paramor said being part of what is to become the largest Australian master planned community and the largest shopping and lifestyle centre in Queensland is a very exciting opportunity.
“We believe that Greater Springfield will be the showcase for South East Queensland and Australia to follow,” Paramor concluded.
