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Welcome to The Dirt, Australia’s go-to news brief for Australia’s up-and-coming property and construction players. This first edition is your sharp weekly recap — cutting through the noise to spotlight the biggest moves in the game.

Today’s brief:

🏗 Blacktown Drops $600M Build Blitz
💸 GemLife lines up a $2B IPO
🪧 VIC budget slammed as a fizzer

Here’s what’s moving 👇

🏗 Project Pulse

Lendlease & Mitsubishi Target Hyde Park Towers
Lendlease is back on home turf with Japanese partner Mitsubishi Estate, lining up twin 36-storey towers overlooking Hyde Park. 289 apartments, retail, 10,000 sqm of commercial — all locked into 175 Liverpool Street. The move sharpens Lendlease’s domestic focus after offshore retreats. It’s a premium play with prestige Tokyo capital — and a big signal to the market: The Australian

Fishermans Bend Finally Breaks Dirt
Australia’s biggest urban renewal just went live. Stage One of Fishermans Bend’s Innovation Precinct is underway, with $179.4M going into new roads, open space and ready-to-develop plots on the old GMH site. The project links Port Melbourne to the CBD across 480 hectares — five precincts, one bold city-shaping bet. After years of planning, we’re finally entering execution mode: Roads and Infrastructure Magazine

VIC Budget Taps Sunshine for Superhub Spend
The Vic government is dropping $15.9B on infrastructure, with Sunshine Station set for a full-blown “transport superhub” makeover. This backs the Melbourne Airport Rail and unlocks growth in key corridors. Builders welcome the pipeline but say it’s far too light on the housing stimulus. Industry’s calling it a voter budget — not a builder one: Roads and Infrastructure Magazine

🚧 Pipeline Watch

Blacktown Drops $600M Build Blitz
Blacktown is going big. The council just launched a formal tender to establish a panel of Tier 1 and Tier 2 contractors to deliver $600 million in civic and community infrastructure across the city. Projects include a First Nations Cultural Hub, aquatic centres, new civic offices, and a PCYC for Mount Druitt — all part of one of the boldest civic infrastructure agendas in the country. It’s a rare open call with real pipeline — and it closes June 18: Inside Construction

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🤝 Deal Flow

MA Financial Takes Malls Back to the Mainstream

MA Financial absorbed IP Generation and its $2B shopping centre portfolio, pushing AUM to $12B. The $90.4M scrip-heavy deal folds in Chris Lock and crew, tightening MA’s grip on non-discretionary retail. While some dodge retail, MA’s doubling down. Long-term cashflow is the bet — and they’re making it big: AFR

Besen Estate Snapped Up for $50M in Toorak
Vicland’s Bill McNee is tipped as the buyer behind Melbourne’s latest $50M trophy home trade. The Besen family compound went off-market in what’s shaping up to be one of the year’s top-end deals. Social history, sprawling land, legacy status — it’s a blue-chip buy through and through. Scarcity wins again: AFR

Salter Brothers Load Up for $2B IPO
Salter Brothers is listing a $2B hotel portfolio, rebranding three Crowne Plaza sites under InterContinental and reviving the Regent brand. IHG’s expansion into Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra adds polish to the play. With travel bouncing back, Salter’s stacking prestige and pipeline. It’s a REIT rollout built on international trust: AFR

💰 Money Moves

GemLife Lines Up $2B Retirement IPO
Over-50s housing group GemLife has tapped Ord Minnett, Morgans, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley for a blockbuster float. The pitch? A $700M raise at a $2B valuation — banking on strong demand for land lease plays. With rivals trading at 17x+ NPAT, the market’s hot. GemLife wants to be the next seniors housing darling on the ASX: AFR

ESR Offloads $93M in Cromwell
ESR has pulled the trigger on a $93M sell-down in Cromwell Property Group via a block trade led by Goldman and Morgans. The move pares back ESR’s exposure to Australian office and retail while boosting Cromwell’s free float. Rotation or reallocation — the shift signals tighter focus in a shaky office market. Liquidity’s still deep for listed real estate paper: AFR

Brisbane Still Leads APAC Rent Growth
Knight Frank’s latest has Brisbane topping APAC in office rental growth — 14.2% YoY. Vacancy will tick up as two new towers land in 2025, but supply’s bone dry after that until 2028. Investors love the tenant depth and tight prime pipeline. Brisbane’s beating Melbourne — and might keep the crown: Commo.

📜 Policy & Pressure

Housing Shortfall Hits 262,000 Homes
New federal modelling shows we’ll miss the 1.2M homes target by 262,000. Rate cuts are helping, but supply is way behind migration and demand. Industry wants approvals sped up, taxes eased and land unblocked. Until that happens, prices stay high and politics gets hotter: AFR

Builders Slam Budget as ‘Not Enough’
Victoria’s infrastructure budget might sound big, but builders say it lacks punch. MBAV and the Civil Contractors Federation called it a missed moment to juice private construction. The $15.9B spend is headline-friendly but short on housing levers. Pre-election polish, not post-crisis strategy: Roads and Infrastructure Magazine

🔩 Build Intel

Monarto’s Safari Centre Blends Steel and Earth

In South Australia, Mossop Construction completed the Monarto Safari Park Visitor Centre — a curved, low-slung building that marries REDCOR® weathering steel with rammed earth walls. Every curve was custom — roofing panels were rollformed on-site from Fielders FreeForm®, and cladding panels were slit, profiled, and hand-fitted to match shifting radii. The project team used a mobile steel mill, custom templates, and curved gutters to manage runoff and keep detailing tight. It’s steel-meets-sustainability at its best: high performance, low maintenance, and built to blend into the plains: Inside Construction

FDC Delivers Mondelēz Mega Shed with a Twist
FDC has wrapped the $130M Truganina Distribution Centre — Mondelēz’s biggest automated warehouse globally, spanning 47,000 sqm. The project pushed technical limits: a 32m high-bay ASRS system required the slab to be poured first (unusual), with steel and cladding installed on top — plus roof gear helicoptered in to skip crane delays. A 1MW solar system powers the site, 90% of waste was diverted from landfill, and it hit a 92% sustainability impact score. The Truganina hub will serve as a vital backbone for Mondelēz’s Australian operations, which include iconic brands like Cadbury, Oreo, and BelVita: Inside Construction

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🌍 Market Reads

JLL Closes Maldives Mega Refinancing

JLL advised on a major debt refinance for Hilton’s Amingiri Resort in the Maldives, led out of Singapore. It’s JLL’s first structured finance move in that market — and won’t be the last. Expect more hotel refinancings in exotic places as resort capital gets creative. $2B+ in resort deals already shows they’re serious: The Hotel Conversation

Melbourne & Sydney Crack Global Top 10
Melbourne ranks #5 and Sydney #7 in Oxford Economics’ new Global Cities Index. Human capital, finance strength, liveability — the rankings reinforce long-term investment appeal. Despite housing pressures, both cities are outperforming global peers. The global money knows it: Time Out

That’s a wrap for today.
Australia isn’t slowing down — and neither are we! We’ll keep tracking the ground moves so you can stay above them.

Until next time,
– Team Dirt

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