Fresh from selling an Adelaide complex to Blackstone for over $400m, the deal is epc. Pacific’s first in regional Queensland and represents a new high for the region in attracting more capital from sophisticated investors.
Located less than 45 minutes to the southwest of Brisbane, the investment potential of the regional hub has been pioneered by groups including Maha Sinnathamby’s Springfield Land Corporation.
However, a concerted development drive spearheaded by the local council has lifted the number of investment opportunities on offer, and highlighted the appeal of the precinct for its location and affordability for residents and businesses.
Epc. Pacific’s investment is expected to add more momentum to a building wave of investment.
“This agreement sets the wheels in motion to better serve residents but also opens up the CBD to attract new private investment,” Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale said.
Under the plan, epc. Pacific will relocate the council’s administration offices, city library and civic centre into a landmark 17,000sq m nine-storey building and mall opening up onto a river running through the middle of the town.
The council bought the site on top of a former shopping centre in 2009. It will now be converted into a 5-Star Green Star rated building, housing the council’s administrative functions and the city’s library in a purpose-built 2,000sqm state-of-the-art facility. Other facilities include leisure and entertainment areas, cafes, restaurants and a three-level retail and mixed use centre with views of the river.
The development adds to a busy pipeline for epc. Pacific, which has recently completed over $500m in large scale urban regeneration projects, including the first Australian Taxation Office headquarters in Australia to achieve a 6 Star Green Star rating at the heart of a regeneration precinct in Dandenong, Melbourne.
The company also recently developed the award winning 80 Grenfell Street in Adelaide’s CBD which was part of the complex that sold to Blackstone.
.“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Ipswich CBD and our team is passionate about urban regeneration projects that can deliver real social benefit and change,” epc. Pacific managing director Patrick Smith said.
“We understand the aims and objectives of ICP and have established a strong masterplan that will reposition the public space and put in place a framework for regeneration of the town centre,” he said.