How Western Sydney shaped CBRE development specialist Alex Mirzaian How Western Sydney Shaped CBRE’s Alex Mirzaian

As population growth, infrastructure spending and rezoning reshape Sydney’s west, CBRE senior director Alex Mirzaian has built a career around navigating the increasingly complex market for development sites.

For decades, Sydney’s prestige property conversation was dominated by the harbour and the city’s eastern suburbs. Yet some of its most consequential development activity has been taking place in a different part of the metropolitan area.

Population growth, major transport projects, new employment centres and extensive rezoning have steadily changed the scale of opportunity across Western Sydney. They have also made development transactions more complicated.

It is in this environment that Alex Mirzaian has built his career.

Mirzaian is a senior director within CBRE’s Development NSW business, operating across the company’s Western Sydney and North Sydney offices. He joined CBRE in February 2013 and has accumulated more than 15 years of property experience, with a particular focus on the sale and acquisition of development sites.

His professional trajectory reflects Western Sydney’s transformation from a market sometimes treated as peripheral to one that now plays a central role in the city’s growth.

Building expertise in a changing market

Selling a development site is markedly different from selling an established home.

Its value is influenced not only by location and land area but by planning controls, permissible density, infrastructure, construction economics, funding conditions and the intended end market. Two neighbouring parcels can have dramatically different development potential.

A successful campaign therefore depends on establishing what the land could become and identifying the buyers capable of delivering that outcome.

Mirzaian developed his practice in Western Sydney as investment and development attention moved towards the region’s growth corridors. Working in the market over an extended period gave him exposure to different planning environments, buyer groups and property cycles.

That experience is increasingly valuable as Western Sydney’s development landscape becomes more sophisticated. Landowners may be dealing with changes to zoning or density, while developers must test potential projects against rising construction costs, financing constraints and changing buyer demand.

A property’s theoretical development yield may look compelling on paper. Whether that yield can be delivered economically is another question.

More than finding a buyer

Development-site sales are often described in terms of the final price, but the structure of a transaction can be just as important.

Settlement periods, planning conditions, due-diligence requirements, deposits and access arrangements can materially influence the attractiveness and certainty of a deal. A higher offer with extensive conditions may not ultimately provide a vendor with a better outcome than a cleaner proposal from a well-capitalised buyer.

Mirzaian’s work centres on managing those competing considerations through a structured sales process.

That begins with understanding the site and the vendor’s priorities. It then extends to identifying likely purchaser groups, presenting the development opportunity coherently and managing negotiations between parties that may have very different commercial requirements.

According to the profile supplied to Kanebridge, Mirzaian’s clients have included private landowners, developers, offshore investors, government bodies, religious and community organisations, and receivers handling more complex or distressed assets.

Each category presents a different brief.

A family disposing of a long-held property may be primarily concerned with price, certainty and timing. A government agency may require a highly transparent process. A receiver will often be working within strict legal and financial parameters, while an experienced developer may place greater emphasis on planning potential and settlement flexibility.

The agent’s role is consequently closer to that of a transaction adviser than a conventional salesperson.

Working across Sydney’s property markets

Mirzaian’s position across CBRE’s Western Sydney and North Sydney operations also reflects the way development capital now moves throughout the metropolitan area.

Developers and investors rarely confine themselves to one geographical market. They compare opportunities according to planning risk, projected demand, construction feasibility and the availability of finance.

Relationships established through one transaction can therefore lead to opportunities in a very different part of the city.

Western Sydney remains an important part of Mirzaian’s professional identity, but his current remit extends beyond it. That broader coverage allows him to connect owners and purchasers operating across established and emerging Sydney markets.

It also provides a view of how buyer priorities change between locations. A project in a mature North Shore suburb may depend on scarcity and an affluent local downsizer market. A larger Western Sydney site might instead derive value from future population growth, transport investment or the potential to create housing at scale.

The fundamentals of the transaction remain consistent, but the development and marketing strategy must respond to the location.

A market that rewards clear advice

Sydney’s development sector is operating in a more demanding environment than it was during periods of cheap capital and rapid price growth.

Developers are scrutinising construction costs, presales, finance and delivery risk more closely. Vendors must distinguish between ambitious expressions of interest and offers with a credible prospect of reaching settlement.

In that setting, disciplined transaction management becomes particularly important.

A competitive campaign still needs to generate interest, but it must also give prospective purchasers enough information and confidence to progress. Clear timelines, appropriately managed due diligence and realistic communication can help preserve competition without compromising certainty.

Mirzaian’s career offers a useful perspective on the evolution of development sales. His rise has occurred alongside that of Western Sydney itself: a market shaped by growth, infrastructure and increasingly complex development decisions.

The value of an adviser in this environment is not measured solely by the ability to attract the highest headline offer. It lies in understanding the site, recognising the motivations of each stakeholder and creating a process capable of turning interest into a completed transaction.

Fact box

Name: Alex Mirzaian
Position: Senior Director, Development NSW
Company: CBRE
Office coverage: Western Sydney and North Sydney
Joined CBRE: February 2013
Property experience: More than 15 years, according to the supplied profile
Specialisation: Development-site sales, buyer engagement, negotiation and transaction structuring
Client sectors: Private landowners, developers, offshore investors, government agencies, community and religious organisations, and receivers
Geographical focus: Greater Sydney, with an established background in Western Sydney

A newly completed waterfront residence in Rose Bay has emerged as the latest test of Sydney’s trophy-home market, with the property reportedly carrying expectations of $100 million.

Set on around 830 sqm at 2A Bayview Hill Road, the five-level home occupies a secluded position overlooking Sydney Harbour. Its 180-degree outlook moves from Rose Bay Beach across the city skyline and Harbour Bridge to the North Shore, with glass used extensively throughout the house to keep the view at the centre of the interiors.

The property has been listed following a four-year construction program undertaken for developer Stuart Rose and his wife, Irina. The couple has reportedly decided to relocate overseas, bringing the newly finished home to market with Michael Pallier of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty and Brad Pillinger of Pillinger.

The site has a notable history. Easybeats lead guitarist and songwriter Harry Vanda and his wife, Robyn, bought the waterfront holding for $667,500 in 1983. They later built a substantial brick residence on the property and retained it for more than three decades.

The Vandas sold the site to the Roses for $15.5 million in February 2015. That transaction provides a striking starting point for the property’s transformation: the earlier house has since made way for an entirely new residence designed around its direct harbour position.

The main living floor is arranged as a sequence of open spaces framed by extensive glazing and marble. A broad balcony extends the entertaining area towards the water, while a sheltered internal courtyard with custom banquette seating offers a more protected outdoor setting.

The principal kitchen combines a large marble island with concealed appliances. A separate butler’s kitchen adds two Wolf ovens and an integrated Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer, allowing large-scale entertaining to operate without overtaking the main room.

Accommodation includes four ensuite bedrooms, with the main suite opening to a balcony and incorporating a large dressing room. An office and upper lounge can be adapted as a further bedroom suite, while the top level has the flexibility to function as a self-contained apartment with its own kitchenette.

The scale of the entertainment spaces becomes clearer on the lower levels. A dedicated wine lounge incorporates a temperature-controlled cellar, fireplace and bar. Elsewhere, a cinema with custom seating sits alongside music, library and games areas, supported by a third full kitchen.

The wellness component is described as a fitness centre rather than simply a gym. It includes a spa zone and waterfront lounge, with marble foundations already prepared should a future owner wish to add a steam room and sauna.

Outside, a mosaic-tiled heated infinity pool and spa are positioned above a level lawn and sun deck. A covered terrace contains a built-in gaucho grill, while the harbourside loggia and boathouse sit at the water’s edge with an outdoor shower and steps descending directly into the harbour.

A lift connects all five levels. Other inclusions extend to hydronic heating beneath marble floors, ducted air-conditioning, integrated sound, Control4 automation, CCTV, irrigation, solar panels and battery backup. A long gated driveway leads to garaging for three cars, including a stacker, with a forecourt and turning circle.

The reported $100 million expectation places the campaign, being run by conjunctional agents Michael Pallier from Sydney Sotheby’s and Brad Pillinger from Pillinger, within rare company. Only a small number of Sydney houses have crossed that threshold, including the Point Piper estates Fairwater, Elaine and UIG Lodge. A few doors down is the Bayview Hill Road home that sold for just over $83 million earlier this year to billionaires Alex and Vanessa Birkenstock, of the German leather sandal-family.

The listing arrives ahead of the Spring rush for trophy homes in Sydney’s premium harbourside pockets. Kanebridge recently featured Radford, the historic Wolseley Road waterfront home listed with an $85 million guide, followed by Deauville at 16 Longworth Avenue, which is seeking between $85 million and $90 million.

Property summary

– Address: 2A Bayview Hill Road, Rose Bay, NSW
– Price expectation: Reportedly $100 million
– Land: Approximately 830sqm
– Residence: Newly completed, five-level absolute-waterfront home
– Accommodation: Four ensuite bedrooms plus flexible fifth-bedroom or self-contained upper-level accommodation
– Key interiors: Main marble kitchen, butler’s kitchen, third kitchen, cinema, wine lounge and temperature-controlled cellar
– Wellness: Gym and spa zone, with provision for a steam room and sauna
– Waterfront: Heated infinity pool and spa, level lawn, harbourside loggia, boathouse and direct harbour access
– Parking: Triple garage including stacker, plus forecourt and turning circle
– Technology: Control4 automation, CCTV, integrated sound, solar panels and battery backup
– Previous sale: $15.5 million in February 2015
– Selling agents: Michael Pallier, Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty; Brad Pillinger, Pillinger