ART, ISPT Secure Site for $585m Healthcare Hub

Australian Retirement Trust and ISPT are moving forward with plans for a $585-million healthcare hub, landing a site between The University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

The superannuation fund and private property fund manager has secured the rights to the 6000sq m site at 10 Missenden Road, Camperdown under a 99-year lease from St John’s College. 

Before the pandemic, the college had investigated uses for the site, which is next to the country’s “grandest” Gothic Revival college, built in the 1860s in Sydney’s inner-west.

This looked at such uses as student accommodation, retail, health, carparking or university use, which could be developed independently of the college.

Now, ISPT and ART, under a 50-50 joint-venture, plan to develop a healthcare and life sciences hub with 30,000sq m of net leasable area on the site.

This could be used for an acute private hospital, consulting suites and specialist medical occupiers, such as pathology, diagnostics, education and research.

A development application is expected to be filed in early next year ahed of practical completion in 2029. 

▲ The site is about 5km west of the Sydney CBD.

Missenden Road will become ISPT’s third project of this type and bring its total healthcare-related portfolio to $1.4 billion.

This includes the Health Translation Hub at UNSW, also in Sydney, and Brenan Place at St Vincent’s Fitzroy Hospital, Melbourne. 

ART senior portfolio manager Mark Lee said identifying market trends and conditions was critical to the decision making process in moving the project forward. 

“Australia’s population is ageing in combination with an increase in life expectancy thanks to modern medical advancements, and overall population growth,” Lee said.

“These trends naturally lead to an increase in demand for domestic healthcare services, which is why Australian Retirement Trust sees value in this space.

“Australian Retirement Trust’s co-investment with ISPT in the new Camperdown Healthcare and Life Sciences Hub adds to the fund’s existing suite of investments in the healthcare sector. 

“We are confident it will provide dual benefits in the form of strong returns for our members and enhancing the health and wellbeing of the Sydney community.” 

Total health spending in Australia is predicted to more than double to $270 billion by 2035, according to The University of Sydney research.

This is due to a sharp increase in the percentage of people aged over 65 years. By 2026 it was predicted to reach 22 per cent, up from 16 per cent in 2020 and 8.3 per cent in the early 1970s.

Nearby, specialist life sciences developer Kurraba Group is planning to cash in on the sector, filing plans at Botany Road, Mascot.

The research campus that will cost $219 million to build will be next to a five-storey office building also planned by the developer.

Meanwhile, across the country, a Perth heritage building is being turned into a life science hub by the WA Government. 

Tenders have been for the adaptive reuse project to transform an underutilised three-storey building from 1895.