Hambledon Park, North Richmond farm sold

Hambledon Park, the North Richmond farm, has been sold for $60 million. The 253ha property, 70km north of Sydney, has been bought by Fairway Thoroughbreds businessman John Camilleri, the breeder of Winx.

His acquisition wasn’t equine driven nor for Camilleri’s Baiada Poultry enterprise, which controls the Steggles and Lilydale brands.

Instead it is a long-term residential subdivision opp­ortunity. There is approval for a small rural subdivision of 25 lots, which dates back to 2008. 

But the demand for smaller housing lots in the Hawkesbury municipality has rocketed over the subsequent dozen years.

“Hambledon Park will one day be a new suburb of Sydney,” Cushman & Wakefield selling agent Anthony Bray said.

Any eventual residential development market will follow the nearby successful housing estates including The Ponds, Elara, and The Hills Carmel.

Hambledon Park, the North Richmond dairy farm, initially hit the market with expectations of $120 million to $140 million, but the lack of developer interest saw the price expectations dampened.

The Camilleri family’s Celestino Developments recently sold Stockland, the unbuilt two-thirds of its 293ha masterplanned site, The Gables at Box Hill with the listed developer paying $415 million over seven years.

Bray had expected to see stronger interest from developers, the tertiary education and agricultural industries for Hambledon Park, but the absence of Chinese buyers from the buying mix meant it sold for under its $120 million expectations of two years ago.

The property was a 1200-cow dairy farm at its peak after being purchased in 1974 by the Peel family who were a major dairy supplier into Sydney.

More recently it has been a feed lot, along with operating a breeding herd of about 300 black angus cows.