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Andrew Wright is a senior property lawyer with over fourteen years' experience in major projects, large conveyancing deals and commercial leasing for leading corporate and government clients.
Andrew's practice focuses on specialised private and public sector property-related development and infrastructure projects, as well as major commercial acquisition and leasing projects across such sectors as forestry, airports, roads, railways, ports, mining, alpine resorts and telecommunications.
He is particularly skilled in projects involving rural land and primary industry, together with Commonwealth and State Crown land deals.
Andrew's long-standing clients include Qantas, Optus, Westpac, Global Forest Partners, LIF (LG Super), and Perisher Blue. Other significant clients Andrew has acted for include Rabobank, Computershare, Australand, CMA Corporation, Anglican Retirement Villages (Diocese of Sydney), the former Office of the Coordinator General NSW, the Roads & Traffic Authority of NSW, and the Lane Cove Tunnel Consortium.
Andrew has significant experience with airport- related property transactions, having acted for Qantas for many years, including two secondments to Qantas' in-house legal team.
Areas of expertise include:
Andrew has acted since 2004 for Global Forest Partners LP in all its major Australian acquisitions in both hardwood and softwood forestry plantations, including the 2009 acquisition of the forestry assets of the failed Timbercorp plantation schemes in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Prior to this, Andrew had also acted for CSR in one of the largest successful adverse possession actions in Australia, in relation to a claim over 400 separate forestry properties in Western Victoria. Andrew has also previously acted for a number of banking clients on sales of farming properties in the distressed sale sphere, He is also currently acting for a major US-based pension fund in the acquisition of Australian rural farming land.
Andrew was a key member of the team involved in negotiating the NSW Government’s long-term lease of its non-metropolitan freight rail corridors to ARTC in 2004. Other infrastructure projects Andrew has been involved with include the negotiation and finalisation with the NSW Government of the consolidated long term lease for the Perisher-Smiggin Holes resort in 2009, the lease arrangements for the Lane Cove Tunnel and the RTA bus transitway tunnel at Blacktown QIC.
Andrew has wide-ranging expertise in major commercial leasing from both a landlord and tenant perspective, at corporate head office level and in the retail, industrial, telecommunications and government sectors. Andrew has undertaken property leasing for Qantas in both the airport and non-airport spaces for over a decade. Andrew also supervises the Westpac/St George national ATM and NSW/ACT branch leasing portfolios.
Andrew has broad experience in multiple industry sectors, including commercial development, government projects, transport and mining. Andrew has particular expertise in projects involving rural land and primary industries. Recently, Andrew acted for Australand on acquisition of the Clemton Park development site. Andrew has also acted for the University of Boston in relation their Sydney property transactions for a number of years, including the recent construction and long term lease of their new Sydney campus and residential facility.
Andrew is currently acting for the Sydney Ports Corporation in the negotiation of new long term lease arrangements with stevedores at the Port Botany facility.
Andrew was a key member of the team involved in negotiating the NSW Government’s long-term lease of its non-metropolitan freight rail corridors to ARTC in 2004. He has also acted for the RTA in drafting negotiating and finalising the property dealings relating to the RTA bus transitway tunnel at Blacktown QIC. Andrew is currently acting for the Sydney Ports Corporation in relation to its leasing arrangements and Botany Bay with a major stevedore.
Andrew deals widely in major property transactions and large-scale conveyancing spanning diverse sectors including commercial office and retail, industrial, infrastructure, agriculture and forestry, water rights, mining, as well as distressed sales of commercial property. He is highly experienced in government-related property transactions and commercial deals involving State and Commonwealth Crown land. Other highlights include acting in four separate major forestry investment acquisitions over the last seven years across four separate state jurisdictions.
Andrew has worked closely with our Dispute Resolution group on a number of property disputes involving major clients such as Westpac, Global Forest partners and Standards Australia. Andrew regularly presents with our Dispute Resolution partner Gary Ulman on key issues relating to the Retail Leases Act.
Andrew has acted on a significant number of receiver sales from both a vendor and purchaser perspective, including the 2009 asset sale acquisition by the Global Forest Partners; managed entity, Australian Bluegum Plantations Pty Limited of 92,000ha of hardwood plantations from the Timbercorp group liquidators in the space of little over a month, involving the transfer of nearly 400 separate freehold land parcels and over 350 separate leases in three separate jurisdictions.