Savills : JTX Announces $1.7 Billion Craigieburn Development

Melbourne based construction and development firm, JTX International, has announced a $1.7 billion Craigieburn business park and homemaker centre development which will deliver nearly 150,000 square metres of retail, office, medical, hotel and entertainment facilities on a massive 32 hectare site.

Dubbed Humex the development will include:

• A 56,000 square metre building materials display centre;
• A massive indoor play and entertainment centre;
• A 12 level, international hotel with 285 rooms;
• A 7,000 square metre medical centre including day surgery;
• Mixed use commercial with supermarket, retail and offices components;
• 50,000 square metres of bulky goods and showroom retail;
• 40 'business nursery' warehouse units;
• A convenience retail and service station, and,
• Parking for 2,756 cars and 252 bicycles.

JTX Chief Executive, Anthony Elcheikh, said the 650 Hume Highway site was perfectly positioned for the landmark development which, according to Hume City Council, has the potential to be 'an iconic built form at the (northern) gateway to the city'.

'The city of Hume is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Australia and will be one of the largest growth corridors in Victoria over the next 10-20 years.

'That enormous growth will require a level of services equal to that of a large regional centre. Humex is designed to deliver that,' Mr Elcheikh said.

He said the project would also deliver a major economic boost for Hume with the creation of more than 5,000 jobs both during construction and with the opening of scores of new Humex businesses.

'Humex is much more than a massive commercial development; it will also add significantly to the economic growth prospects of the City of Hume providing long term local jobs and income,' Mr Elcheikh said.

The building materials display centre, according to Mr Elcheikh, will be the largest in the southern hemisphere over five levels with more than 3,000 demonstration and display suites offering fixtures and fittings, furniture, internal and external finishes and aterials, electrical, plumbing, hire equipment and gardening products.

The medical centre will offer four floors of state-of-the-art surgical and allied healthcare space while the circa 11,000 square metre indoor play and entertainment centre will also be the largest in the southern hemisphere with bounce, fly, climb and water play facilities, childcare, a bowling alley and indoor courts.

Mr Elcheikh said Humex had been seven-years in the making, with Hume council granting a permit for the site in November last year.

'A project like this takes an enormous amount of planning but from the outset our philosophy has been about creating a sense of place and community as well as a distinctive, aesthetically pleasing, built form that adds to the liveability of the City of Hume whilst providing a national model for a state-of-the-art mixed use development.

'Ultimately we believe we have designed a unique, one-stop destination, development that is worthy of landmark status, that will support the needs of the rapidly growing local population, and that will attract custom from right across Melbourne and indeed the country,' Mr Elcheikh said.

He said JTX along with Multiplex, the joint venture build partner, would aim for a completion date of the project in 2018.

According to Savills Keith Kooloos, Humex is a sorely needed development that will offer retailers the sort of exceptional exposure and site access that only large scale developments can offer.

'Humex will find tremendous support from tenants and owner-occupiers seeking a quality space within a mixed use environment that services and supports the building of new homes, including big box retail, and the already established homes in the area.

'It is a truly unique offering with the ability for major occupiers to also purchase their buildings, alternatively anchors will have the opportunity to purchase fully-serviced sites on which they can build for themselves.

'The timing of the development and its gateway position in one of Australia's fastest growing municipalities could hardly be better in terms of access to both homeowners and builders,' Mr Kooloos said.

Humex will have the only fully signalised intersection, both north and southbound, on the Hume Highway providing it with the best highway access of any private development in Melbourne.

The development will also offer key support retail including banks, a post office, service station and convenience shopping to both the local community and Hume Highway travellers.

Other JTX projects include the $210 million Bellelle mixed use development underway in Ivanhoe, and several other projects in the pipeline including the Town Centre in Glen Waverley and Heidelberg Station redevelopment.