STOCKLAND has joined forces with Kaplan Funds Management and Queensland Rail to develop a new intermodal facility in Moorebank.
The facility will be developed at Stockland’s Department of Defence National Storage and Distribution Centre at Moorebank.
Yesterday, Stockland took control of the $301 million, 83 hectare western Sydney site from Westpac Funds Management.
Under the arrangement, two entities managed by KFM have each taken an interest of 15% and QR Limited has taken a 10% interest.
Stockland’s chief executive of office and industrial Steve Mann said the JV will create an inland port solution to help absorb the mounting pressure of increasing container volumes at Port Botany.
He said the new intermodal rail terminal will cater for containerised freight servicing the port and intrastate and interstate rail line haul markets.
Mann said the site was ripe with development potential for transport uses, with the current building site coverage very low at 29%. The site is ideally located near the M5 and M7 Motorways, with an existing rail spur from the East Hills line ensuring it can provide warehousing and distribution solutions by train from Port Botany.
“Through the development of this new facility, we are focused on increasing the modal shift from road to rail in line with the NSW Government targets.
“The logistics and rail capability of KFM and QR will combine with our property development and asset management expertise to add significant value to this strategic site,” he added.
“We believe that this group provides outstanding expertise across property development, terminal operations and rail operations which will be important in realising the full potential from the site and creating one of
“QR’s long-term intermodal strategy recognises the need for new inland terminal capacity and new rail connections to truly capitalise on the doubling of the general freight task nationally over the next two decades. This is a sound investment in that future capacity and QR’s continued national expansion,” QR’s head of freight Stephen Cantwell.
QR and POTA Holdings Pty Limited, a business majority owned by KFM managed funds, are existing tenants at Stockland’s similar scale $300 million Yennora facility. All joint venture participants have signed a memorandum of understanding to work towards the creation of a national multi-user intermodal network.
Australian Property Journal
