Penrith City Council has purchased 16 hectares of industrial land at Emu Plains in a bid to enhance local employment opportunities and stimulate the local economy.
The site, at 158-164 Old Bathurst Road, was previously home to concrete pipe supplier, Rocla, until last year.
Council says the site is set to become a new industrial and employment hub, unlocking one of the biggest industrial land parcels in the suburb in over 14 years.
Penrith Mayor Karen McKeown OAM said the land sale aligned with Council’s strategic vision for Penrith to become a world-class city with employment opportunities close to home, complementing the city’s other transformation projects at Soper Place, 131 Henry Street, City Park and Regatta Park.
“As part of the revitalisation of our city, Council has purchased 158-164 Old Bathurst Road for a future industrial precinct to diversify our local job opportunities, attract investment to our city and locate businesses close to home,” Mayor McKeown said.
“We need to significantly increase our employment hubs in Penrith with our population set to grow by 60,000 in the next 10 years, and over half of our working population already commuting outside the area each day for work. Our proposed industrial precinct at Emu Plains will help us to achieve our employment targets by creating 300 – 350 new jobs once complete in essential industries such as advanced manufacturing, logistics, warehouse distribution and construction,” she said.
“This new project will also inject $36.4 million into our local economy each year, helping to support our recovery from COVID-19.”
She said Council will seek to subdivide the site to improve the limited supply of medium-sized industrial land in the Penrith Local Government Area.
“This will help to attract over 40 businesses, large and small, to base their operations in Emu Plains and provide much-needed space for local businesses to start up or scale up.”
She said the strategic site would leverage the close proximity to the Penrith CBD, Blue Mountains, the M4 Motorway, Emu Plains train station and the proposed adjacent State Government commuter car park.
“As an industrial site, 158-164 Old Bathurst Road will help Council to diversify its portfolio of projects, to reduce reliance on rate income and allow Council to continue to provide high-quality services for the community now and into the future,” the Mayor said.
Council has finalised contracts – with settlement due in 2023 – and will commence the planning phases of the project with a development application expected to be lodged in mid-2022.
