Mitsui Fudosan Expands Investment in $509M Frasers Project in Sydney

Singapore’s Frasers Property is deepening its Australian tie-up with Mitsui Fudosan, with the Singapore-listed firm announcing that it is expanding its residential joint venture with the Japanese development giant to A$797 million ($509 million) in investment value.

The Aussie arm of Frasers said Monday that the top Japanese developer will back three additional projects in its Midtown MacPark development in northwest Sydney, bringing the MAC Residences joint venture to a total of 1,145 homes under development across four buildings.

“Working together to deliver MAC Residences at Midtown MacPark has demonstrated the strong alignment in values and priorities between Frasers Property and Mitsui Fudosan,” said Mark Gleeson, executive general manager for investments at Frasers Australia. “Our growth strategy is to draw on our core capabilities and leverage the experience of our partners to create premium assets, and to recycle capital to pursue new opportunities aligned with our specialist expertise, particularly in large-scale, mixed-use community development and placemaking.”

The announcement marks a follow-up commitment to the 50:50 joint venture after the partners announced in January of last year that they would be working together on a 269-unit project as their first collaboration.

Finish One, Start the Next

Frasers and Mitsui are announcing their expanded joint venture after having found buyers for all but seven units in the initial Mac Residences project.

“It makes sense to take our growth in the Australian market to the next level by contributing our expertise to a high-quality community development with a partner we know,” Kenji Oka, managing director of Mitsui Fudosan Australia, said in a statement.

Frasers reported that the 24-storey first phase was popular with first-time home owners, young families, downsizers, singles and couples, as well as investors.

With that project nearly sold out, Frasers and Mitsui Fudosan are now preparing to start construction on the second phase of their joint venture in line with the completion of their first Mac Residences before the end of 2023. They expect to kick off the third and fourth projects under the JV during 2024.

Named Treehouse, phase two of the joint venture will have 162 units across 16 levels with about 1,000 square metres (10,764 square feet) of space allotted for retail use on the ground floor, according to the developers.

It will also feature green breakout spaces as well as a rooftop garden overlooking a 3,300 square metre village park at the centre of the community. Now 43 percent sold since its launch a year ago, the partners expect to break ground on the project in October with completion set for the end of 2025, based on company records.

Phases three of the joint venture, which is set to be launched in March, will have 268 apartments, 216 public housing units and four terrace homes, while the 234-unit fourth segment is set to hit the market in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Billion-Dollar Project Forges Ahead

The residential joint venture is part of Frasers’ A$2.2 billion ($1.4 billion) Midtown MacPark integrated community which the company planned in partnership with the New South Wales government. The development includes 3,300 apartments and a range of community facilities to be built in phases over the next 10 to 12 years.

All four projects are to be equipped with rooftop solar panels and smart metres for sustainability, while Frasers’ retail energy unit, Real Utilities, will be providing carbon neutral energy to the buildings.

The upcoming community precinct is located 13 kilometres (8 miles) northwest of Sydney’s central business district, and about 500 metres from the Macquarie University campus and train station.

Regional Partnership

The expanded JV between Mitsui and Frasers marks their second tie-up Down Under, although the two property heavyweights have previously worked together elsewhere in Asia.

In 2020, the two commenced construction on an integrated logistics park development in Chachoengsao, an industrial hub east of Bangkok. Frasers has a 51 percent stake in the project valued at THB 3.5 billion (now $99 million), while Mitsui holds the remaining 49 percent.

Thailand is the home country of Frasers chairman Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, who made his fortune from Thai Beverage, the nation’s largest liquor distiller.