Investor interest grows in Maha Sinnathamby’s $88bn Springfield dream
Maha Sinnathamby’s $8m purchase of scrubland west of Brisbane raised plenty of eyebrows in 1985. But almost four decades and billions of dollars later, one of Australia’s biggest-ever projects is still powering.
Billionaire Maha Sinnathamby’s enthusiasm for one of the biggest projects in Australian history is showing no signs of dimming.
His Springfield Group is only roughly a quarter of the way through its $88bn dream unfolding southwest of Brisbane’s CBD, where Sinnathamby and business partner Bob Sharpless have spent the best part of almost four decades building Springfield into Australia’s largest privately developed city.
Now the pair are moving to find a business partner to turbocharge the development, which has recently announced a series of major health and technology investment deals.
Springfield has investment bank Moelis Australia leading a global search for a partner or consortia of partners, to accelerate completion of the project.
There has been strong interest from super funds, sovereign wealth funds, overseas pension funds and big Asian and local developers, though there is no timeline on a joint venture deal being struck.
The partnership is intended to accelerate the development of Springfield City’s CBD – the heart of which is dubbed the Knowledge Precinct and already has approval for commercial space and 5340 apartments on 119ha of developable land.
The Knowledge Precinct has an expected future value of more than $15bn and includes what Sinnathamby has called IDEA City, Health City and Education City. He has an ongoing aspiration to build Australia’s most futuristic city with health, education and technology as pillars and one job for every three residents.
There are already more than 48,000 residents in Springfield, a dozen schools, shopping centres, hotels and hospitals and other top-class facilities.
Sinnathamby’s next goal is to make Springfield the world’s greenest city by 2038, with Springfield, private equity and French energy company Engie to spend $3.1bn for the entire city to be powered by renewable energy.
Meanwhile, Springfield was recently announced as the site of a new public hospital funded by the Queensland state government in the 52ha Health City integrated health precinct which includes the Mater Private Hospital.
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- Maha Sinnathamby
- Age: 81
- Lives: Brisbane
- Estimated wealth: $1.68bn
- Source: Property
- Secrets of success: Buying scrubland near Brisbane for $7.84m and developing it into Australia’s largest masterplanned city
- Source: The List – Australia’s Richest 250
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Sinnathamby says talks are under way to bring together health service providers, researchers, investors and government into what he wants to to be known as the Innovative Medicines Precinct.
“The city of Springfield has innovation in its DNA,” Sinnathamby says. “Health is one of our cornerstones and any upskilling of a human being is what I value most. Medical research will help improve the health of all Australians, not just people living in Springfield, by potentially developing new medicines, treatments and devices.”
Sinnathamby is also passionate about education, with Springfield planning to more than double the number of education facilities it has by 2036. The city is currently home to a university, a TAFE and 11 schools. Sinnathamby says planning for new schools should include technology such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality because the days of “students lugging around a bag filled with textbooks have already been replaced by iPads and laptops”.
“We need to be looking ahead to the next 20, 30 or 50 years rather than just repeating what’s happening in our schools now.”
Then there is the Knowledge Precinct and its IDEA (Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship and Arts) City, which Sinnathamby wants to be a better version of Silicon Valley in the US.
He says the 42ha precinct has the potential to help create more than 20,000 jobs across the region by 2036 and generate $12bn in economic growth in the same time.
“Our IDEA City will go beyond smart city concepts to create an environment that Australia lacks – to create real jobs from innovations and collaboration,” he says.
“Our precinct will be an enabler for innovation – from bricks-and-mortar to code-and-connect – just what is needed in this Covid environment.”
Sinnathamby and Sharpless bought what was scrubland for $7.84m in 1985, having moved across from Perth. Sinnathamby had moved there from Malaysia, running Murdoch Constructions before its collapse.
But the pair have well and truly made a success of things in Queensland, though Sinnathamby says the search for a new business partner doesn’t mean he is slowing down.
“This isn’t a sign I’m heading to the retirement lounge just yet,” he says.
“Age is no barrier – this is definitely where I want to be.”
