Macquarie Park neighbours bid to join ‘instant millionaires’ club

A savvy joining of forces that made 55 neighbours in Sydney’s Macquarie Park instant millionaires has spurred homeowners in the building next door to do the same.

In August, 55 owners in the same Macquarie Park apartment building sold their properties to a developer for more than $80 million, in one of the largest residential amalgamations ever seen in Australia.

The sale of the 5,130sqm site at 15-21 Cottonwood Crescent saw every owner in the building pocket more than $1 million, as demand for sites in the residential and commercial precinct reached fever pitch.

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Now, 33 of the 36 owners in the neighbouring buildings at 13 Cottonwood Crescent and 12-14 Lachlan Ave have followed suit, combining their properties to offer up the entire site, in a move that is expected to net them major returns.

The site sits around 12.5km from the Sydney CBD.

Both buildings rise four storeys, with 12-14 Lachlan Ave containing 24 apartments and 13 Cottonwood Crescent containing 12 apartments.

Savills’ Neil Cooke, Stuart Cox and Johnathon Broome are marketing the site, which has mixed-use zoning and has the potential for construct 12,688sqm of gross floor area, subject to council approval, with a 45m maximum height limit.

Cox hints that the site could also go close to the $80 million mark.

“We expect this site will rival its neighbour’s record breaking sale price as we have already had a number of interested parties enquire and the expressions of interest campaign (hadn’t) even commenced” he says.

The site could make its owners instant millionaires.

Cox says Macquarie Park continues to be one of Sydney’s most sought after locations for both investors and owner occupiers.

“Macquarie Park has plans to grow to the fourth largest CBD in Australia by 2030, by doubling its current working population of 40,000 employees and expanding from 850,000sqm of commercial space to potentially over 2 million square metres,” he says.

“Since 2009, when the Chatswood to Epping Railway line opened, the demand for investor and owner occupier grade dwellings has soared, with the average unit growing from $416,000 to $796,000, or an average of 11.8% per annum.

Cooke says Macquarie Park’s ongoing growth as a commercial and employment hub has seen demand soar for residential development sites.

“Macquarie Park has become one of Sydney’s fastest growing and most desirable suburbs to live and work. The changing face of Macquarie Park from a light industrial and commercial centre to a mixed-use core has seen the demand for residences close to employment centres and transport connections skyrocket over the past two to three years,” he says.

The property is for sale via expressions of interest, which close on Thursday, October 5.