Brisbane's new industrial park Metroplex Westgate gets $20 million road upgrade

A $20 million road link expected to improve access and attract businesses to Brisbane's new Western Business District - the Metroplex Westgate development in Wacol, has been officially declared open at an event attended by Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk.

The new road and bridge across Bullockhead Creek have converted Wacol’s Boundary Road into a continuous thoroughfare, opening a new route to the Ipswich and Centenary motorways. It has been built to accommodate up to 18,000 vehicles per day, which will improve local traffic flow.

The road works were funded by GPT Metroplex Joint Venture and supported by the Brisbane City Council through infrastructure rebates and include an upgraded overpass directly connecting Progress Road to the Ipswich Motorway.

Managing director of GPT Metroplex Peter Macgregor and GPT Group’s head of Capital Transactions Jonathon Johnstone were the first to cross the new Bullockhead Creek Bridge on bicycles, with Mayor Quirk at the helm of a fleet of Volvo trucks.

"Construction of Boundary Road and Bullockhead Creek Bridge provide the missing link and connectivity to the Ipswich Motorway - the key elements that underwrite the success of Metroplex Westgate," Macgregor said.

The $350 million Metroplex Westgate will comprise 300,000 sqm of industrial, commercial and retail floorspace, along with 17 hectares of green space and nature corridors. It is being marketed by Cushman & Wakefield and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

Volvo recently said it will open its new Australian headquarters and dealership at Metroplex Westgate in 2017. Several other brands, including building products manufacturer Ardex Australia, returnable packaging solutions provider Loscam and fuel retailer Puma Energy will also take up space at the industrial site.

"We wanted to cement Wacol as South East Queensland's industrial capital and activate Metroplex Westgate as Brisbane's new Western Business District and key centre for manufacturing and logistics," GPT’s Johnstone said.

"To achieve this it was crucial to upgrade the road network to provide businesses with fast access to motorways, South East Queensland's CBDs, airports, rail lines and ports."

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the $20 million road access would be a vital link for the Wacol site, which would be a future economic driver for the region and attract new technological and industrial investment to the city.

The first stage - Metroplex South - is now selling with a limited number of smaller lots remaining, ranging from about 3,000 sqm to 1.7 hectares.