Waterbank demand tip

Lend Lease Australia CEO Mark Menhinnitt believes there will be plenty of demand for the group’s newly secured Waterbank project north of the Causeway in East Perth.

Speaking to WA Business News after state Planning Minister John Day announced Lend Lease as the preferred proponent for the $1 billion, 4-hectare development, Mr Menhinnitt said that, despite Perth’s high construction costs and at least two other $1 billion-plus projects in the inner city, he was confident in the company’s strategy.

Mr Menhinnitt said he did not believe the predominantly residential Waterbank project would be competing with the $1 billion CityLink and the emblematic Waterfront development on the Swan River foreshore on the north-western banks of Perth Water. 

There are also numerous other apartment developments, including the Queens development, which are located nearby.

“The three projects are different, they are not competing with each other,” he said.

Lend Lease’s winning design for the Waterbank development was scaled back from the three towers which had been originally proposed during the expression of interest stage.

Mr Menhinnitt said the reduced amount of high rise – one major tower of up to 30 storeys – was more attuned to the market.

“We are looking at it as a development and design that we think is real and what we can get involved in that we can deliver on,” he said.

The Lend Lease Australia chief also batted away concerns about the rising cost of labour and skills as several big city projects went into competition with the mining boom.

He said Perth was more expensive than other parts of Australia but that further reinforced the need to get the product right.

Waterbank will have a commercial component but it is thought to be seeking just one or two major tenants for its office development, targeting clientele that would prefer to sit on the fringe of the CBD rather than traditional central city businesses.

The win over Brookfield Multiplex and Frasers Property Group comes just three years after Lend Lease entered the property market in WA and follows its major win in the Alkimos residential land development two years ago.

Alkimos is one of the biggest elements of the planned northern corridor expansion to Yanchep. Lend Lease is in partnership with Landcorp, however, it is understood the biggest hurdle facing the project is federal environmental approvals.

The group also has retirement villages and several shopping centres in WA, the latter thought to be expanding with the addition of retail assets in Geraldton, most likely the Northgate site put on the market by Centro.