Macquarie-Backed LogiSpace Launches With $167M Sydney Logistics Project

Australia’s LogiSpace on Monday announced its formal launch with plans for a A$238 million ($167 million) logistics estate in western Sydney, marking the debut project for the industrial property platform co-founded by Macquarie Asset Management.

The venture, led by Logos veterans Darren Searle and Troy Bryant, has acquired a 6.5 hectare (16 acre) site at 191 Miller Road in Chester Hill for redevelopment into a logistics facility, LogiSpace said in a release. The project will transform the property into a modern logistics estate with two buildings split into six units and providing 35,826 square metres (385,628 square feet) of gross leasable area.

Former Logos Australia head Searle said LogiSpace is targeting development opportunities where the founders’ experience in logistics real estate can create value for tenants and investors.

“Logistics real estate is our heartland, and we are excited to be launching LogiSpace with a best-in-class team and a great amount of energy for the opportunity ahead of us,” he said. “We will focus on highly strategic opportunities where our unique set of skills and market expertise position us to add value in ways that many market participants cannot.”

Disruptive Agenda

The Chester Hill site sits within Sydney’s Villawood-Chester Hill industrial corridor, offering access to major population centres and transport links supporting last-mile distribution. 

Units will range from about 4,000 to 10,000 square metres to allow the estate to accommodate tenants from small enterprises to large logistics operators. Scheduled for completion in early 2028, the development will feature a shared hardstand area and is targeting a 5-Star Green Star sustainability rating.

Bryant, a former head of development for Australia at Logos, said LogiSpace aims to connect capital partners with occupiers through a development approach focused on investor returns and tenant needs.

“We bring decades of experience and a solutions-focused mindset to this new venture with a disruptive agenda,” he said.

Building on Track Record

LogiSpace will form part of Macquarie Asset Management’s global portfolio of logistics real estate operators, which in Asia includes UI Boustead REIT sponsor UIB Holdings. MAM was an early backer of Sydney-based industrial developer Logos, which was acquired by ESR in 2022 as part of that group’s $5.2 billion takeover of Singapore’s ARA Asset Management.

“With an established track record of previously developing several successful businesses centred around Australian logistics, we are very excited to have re-entered the sector with Darren and Troy as co-founders of LogiSpace,” said James Kemp, MAM’s head of Asia Pacific real estate. 

UI Boustead REIT weathered a rough debut on the Singapore Exchange last week amid geopolitical jitters, closing Friday at 6.25 percent below its IPO price. The trust’s units ended unchanged Monday at S$0.82.

After the REIT raised S$973.6 million ($762 million) through the IPO, Kemp told Mingtiandi that Singapore and Japan are currently the two preferred markets for the platform, chosen for the strength of their underlying real estate fundamentals and the depth of institutional capital available in each.

The IPO is expected to be the largest debut of a property trust on the SGX this year. With its sponsor having granted the REIT a right of first refusal over more than $5.9 billion in assets from its sponsor pipeline in the two markets, Kemp said investor enthusiasm during the roadshow was driven by confidence in the sponsor’s ongoing development activity and by the quality of the properties the REIT had already assembled.

“The capability of the sponsor to continue to develop and create investment opportunities for the REIT was well received,” he said.