Tamworth Global Gateway Park: city's huge new industrial precinct attracting big business

The Sydney CBD-sized Tamworth Global Gateway Park at Westdale is attracting keen interest from big manufacturing businesses, with the early stages selling fast and ground broken on the very first lot.

Ten out of 19 lots in stages one and two are sold or under contract, with the park expected to supercharge the economy by creating more than 3000 jobs once fully developed.

Burke & Smyth Commercial is exclusively selling the real estate alongside CBRE Sydney, and principal Gavin Knee told the Leader the precinct has attracted local, national and even international attention.

"We've got a good range of businesses. There's some local national businesses that are expanding their footprint as the region grows," he said.

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"A large fund manager has bought the corner lot, which is on four hectares - a client of ours who's looking to do a large warehousing estate. So that's pretty exciting to have that type of investment in Tamworth.

"We're also working with three large national industrial workshop and manufacturing businesses."

He expects to see businesses operating at the park by this time next year, depending on construction timelines, which usually take anywhere between six and 12 months.

With little available land left in the nearby Taminda industrial estate, Mr Knee said the Global Gateway Park would allow the city to continue to boom for years to come.

"It's imperative that we supply good quality land for businesses to expand otherwise they potentially can look elsewhere," he said.

Council bought the 246-hectare parcel of land in 2016, strategically located on the Oxley Highway near the Tamworth Regional Airport, to cater for new or expanding business.

Early business case modelling done by council estimates it has the potential to create more than 3000 jobs once fully developed over the next 20 years.

Poised to become one of the biggest logistics hubs in regional Australia, major infrastructure projects including the Tamworth Intermodal Freight Facility and rail line will serve the park once complete.

Construction of the Intermodal Freight Facility will begin soon after the contract between Qube and their building contractor is finalised, which is expected to occur within the next month, a council spokesperson told the Leader.

The Global Gateway Park is "exceeding expectations" and council is working hard to develop further stages, Tamworth mayor Russell Webb said.

"We are finding that the demand for industrial land is red hot at the moment and that's very good news for Tamworth," he said.

"Industrial areas that are currently under construction will create opportunities for many businesses, which will mean hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs and of course that in itself will be a massive injection into the economy with the wages that come from that employment."

Another six available lots are already allocated and Burke & Smyth is working with some "very large businesses" with contracts expected to be exchanged soon.

Businesses have to go through a "very selective" approval process, with the precinct designed to create local jobs, not just serve outside investors.

"We're not just allowing anyone to buy the land. We don't just want investors coming from the city and just land banking lots, there's got to be activation," Mr Knee said.

"We want to know what they're doing so that buildings are built quickly. We don't want land sitting idle for a number of years."

The rising investor confidence in the region is also creating a flow-on effect to the local property market.

The next stages of land are in planning, due to be released late this year.

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