Songcheng ally to get keys to ‘city’

THERE’S been some pretty serious sniffing going on around the canefields in the Norwell Valley. Some of Australia’s biggest property players, groups with long vision, have been nosing around since Chinese group Songcheng last year cemented a $1 billion-plus deal to buy land in the valley.

That deal will be the biggest land sale in Australia if it is consummated.

A new master-planned city has been flagged for the 6117ha of farmland, something which could provide a development pipeline for 25 years or more.

However, it’s known that Songcheng principally is interested in sticking to its knitting – theme parks – and doesn’t see itself as a developer of homes, shops or offices.

That means it almost certainly will be looking for a development partner, or partners, for the rest of the ‘city’ – the land that isn’t home to a Songcheng theme park.

That probability hasn’t escaped the attention of major domestic property players – hence the ‘sniffing’.

By all accounts, a couple of the players became quite intoxicated with the idea of getting in on the ground floor on a possible 25-year venture and approached Songcheng.

One of those unnamed parties since has stepped back but the enthusiasm of the other, apparently a multibillion dollar listed company, hasn’t waned.

The 80-plus landowners who have agreed to sell to Songcheng, many of them cane farmers seeking to exit an industry that lately has been driving them to despair, are aware of what’s been going on.

They know that a proposal, almost a joint-venture one, is being drawn up and it will be put to the Songcheng board.

There’s mystery over which major Australian property group is involved, with names like Mirvac, Stockland, and Lend Lease tossed about.

Both Stockland and Mirvac have long, and ongoing, activities on the Gold Coast and Varsity Lakes developer Lend Lease is known to have unsatisfied ambitions.

A joint venture-type deal would make life a lot easier for Songcheng, which could rely on its Aussie associate who knows the system playing a key role in both master-planning a new city and managing the approvals process.

Potentially, it also could simplify Songcheng’s need to comply with the Chinese Government’s latest criteria for offshore investment.

The Shenzhen-based company, which owns 30 theme parks and 10 resorts and is chaired by billionaire Huang Qiaoling, already has a green light for an $800 million theme park on a $55 million riverfront site at Nerang.

The Chinese Government has rated the park a key cultural and trade initiative and placed it at No.11 on a list of 40 Belt and Road projects.

Songcheng apparently has a huge team of consultants lined up to start the Norwell Valley planning process, which it has been flagged could cost up to $35 million.