Malaga sheds its sedentary image

MALAGA is moving away from its reputation as a sleepy hollow thanks to a business development boom.

Osborne Park is rapidly becoming a retail, office and showroom precinct and land values are rising to match. Balcatta is slowly following suit. Land in Osborne Park is about three to four times more expensive than Malaga land.

Business owners are being lured to Malaga with the proposition that they can free capital they have in their Osborne Park operation, build a new office and warehouse facility in Malaga and put some money in the bank.

Malaga is also well serviced by road links such as Reid and Tonkin highways and the Mitchell Freeway, allowing easy access to the airport and transport hubs such as Kewdale.

This gives business owners in Kewdale and Welshpool an opportunity to move to larger premises without losing transport flexibility.

Opportunities for expansion in those precincts are limited, however, due to a shortage of land.

While the planned linking of Hepburn Avenue to Tonkin Highway is still under consideration, it will further increase road access if approved.

Malaga also has become home to some innovative companies, such as military and security industry supplier Armourglass and machine tools manufacturer Arbortech, which made a name for itself when its hoverboards were used in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

A study of Malaga shows about 84 per cent of businesses employ 20 people or fewer. It also revealed that more than half of the business owners there chose the precinct because it was close to where they lived.

Malaga is also close to Ballajura, with its population of 20,000. The precinct is also head-quartering some of Perth’s larger companies.

Aluminium Specialties has moved there from Balcatta. Auto services and accessories supplier Marlows has had its head office there for several years.

Marlows’ presence there harks back to Malaga’s old motor trade roots when it was largely a haven of panel beaters, wreckers and motor mechanics.

BHP and Swedish electricity industry supplier ABB is understood to be considering moving its Osborne Park operations to Malaga.

The City of Swan is turning its attention to Malaga – its second largest business district after Midland. It has embarked on a five-year beautification program and has been involved with the planning for much of the area.

Burgess Rawson’s Chad Henville said his company’s most recent release in Malaga of 38 lots was largely sold by August.

“That’s probably the strongest industrial selling I’ve seen in the past five years,” he said.

Mr Henville believes works around Marshall Road will help turn the area into more of a retail and showroom precinct.

City of Swan economic development manager Fiona Weigall said more than half the businesses in Malaga were relocations.

“It’s got a lot to do with the look and feel of the area and the land value,” Ms Weigall said.

“Plus we’re starting to get some head office types relocating here, which helps build the area’s credibility.

“And the area is only about 60 per cent full, so there is still plenty of development potential here.”

Malaga and Districts Business Association executive officer Peter Gardner said Malaga was on the way up, but felt that more needed to be done.

“A lot of the economic development work around here has only started happening in the past two to three years and there are a lot of local governments competing to get businesses relocating there,” Mr Gardner said.