Australia’s Lendlease announces US$600mn Data Centre Project

Lendlease, the international real estate group based out of Sydney, Australia, has announced its first data centre development in Japan, under its Lendlease Data Centres Partners (LLDCP) brand.

In a statement, the developer said that the data centre project will be one of the largest of its scale in Japan. Construction is scheduled to commence later this year, with the initial phase expected to be completed by early 2024.

The gross development value of the project is in excess of $600 million (upon completion of all phases).

Located in Greater Tokyo, the facility is sited on 33,000sqm of land, with the phased development planned to deliver more than 60,000sqm of gross floor area, in which close to half the site has been pre-leased.

“The demand for data centres in the Asia Pacific is set to grow exponentially, with internet-related services usage soaring due to the pandemic. We are excited to launch our first data centre development under Lendlease Data Centre Partners. This project is of significant scale in a sector of growing importance in the digital economy, leveraging our more than 20 years’ experience in the local communications and data infrastructure space, as well as Lendlease’s broader presence in Japan for over 30 years," said Andrew Gauci, Managing Director of Japan & Head of Telecoms and Data Infrastructure Asia.

Demand for data centres has surged during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with digitalisation emerging as a top priority for businesses amid an overall shift to a digital-led economy. Japan is well-placed as a key connectivity and distribution hub for global hyperscale cloud providers, which, in turn, is driving high demand from data centre service providers.

LLDCP is funded 20% by Lendlease and 80% by a global institutional investor. The fund’s mandate covers Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, and includes both completed assets and new development opportunities. Under the partnership, Lendlease undertakes development, construction, property and investment management.

“This partnership is an exemplar of our updated strategy in action, leveraging our competitive edge and creating value with our partners. With our end-to-end integrated capabilities, we look forward to building on this to explore further investments in the future," said Justin Gabbani, Chief Executive Officer Asia.

"This further cements our global leadership in providing best-in-class real estate solutions. Moreover, this also marks a significant milestone for the Group, adding to its global development pipeline alongside five other new urbanisation projects globally.”