Kendra McKay is a Partner and experienced transactional property law expert in our National Real Estate and Projects Group.
Kendra specialises in major capital transactions and complex commercial property development and investment in Australia’s real estate sector. She acts for listed property trusts, institutional developers, major corporates and multinationals (inbound investors), private investment funds, as well as developers, owners, and operators across various asset classes and land tenure models.
Kendra is known for providing highly responsive and commercial advice, leveraging her deep industry connections to identify deal opportunities and negotiate cost-effective solutions. Her expertise extends to some of Australia’s largest and most complex renewable energy projects, where she advises on property aspects of large-scale wind, solar pumped hydro, and battery energy storage development, including land acquisition, leasing, co-location strategies and sale. She works closely with energy developers and investors to navigate regulatory frameworks and unlock value in complex, multi-use land transactions.
Kendra is also recognised for her ground-breaking work in the manufactured housing estate and land lease living communities industry. She is one of only a few with this expertise among Australian law firms and regularly consults with the industry association on policy and reform.
Expertise
Experience
- Ingenia Communities Group (ASX:INA) (S&P/ASX 300 entity) Acting for INA since 2013 in over 25+ acquisitions of Ingenia’s residential community assets (lifestyle and holiday) as well as greenfield development, construction and operational advisory work and complex planning and regulatory advice.
- Meriton Australia’s largest apartment developer, supporting Meriton’s in-house team in relation to sophisticated titling structures and debt and securitisation structures for major mixed use developments, strata consolidation, as well as the interface with various statutory, and local authorities.
- NSW / VIC Developers and Foreign Investors Acting for multiple parties in relation to the corporate structuring of their real estate investment vehicles, including equity and debt conversions (via % unit holdings, securities, joint ventures, and loans) and having regard to FIRB considerations. Drafting and negotiating investor agreements, unit trust deeds and development management agreements, debt and security arrangements, conditional unitholders / shareholders agreements, project delivery agreements and development management agreement suites for freehold, strata, leasehold shopping centres, commercial office, industrial and mixed use residential developments.
- PAYCE Consolidated Limited Acting for PAYCE (post privatisation) for several of its complex master planned communities / large residential, commercial and retail precincts in Sydney: ‘Pierside’, Wentworth Point, ‘The Albany’ Crows Nest, ‘South Village’ Kirrawee.
- Private Off-Shore Investor Acting in connection with complex syndicated acquisitions by off-shore investors providing capital and other finance arrangements to the SGX parent company for a number of mixed use property developments involving numerous security documents and detailed conditions precedent requiring off-shore parent company involvements.
- CWG Group CWG’s parent is a top 100 real estate development enterprises in China (SGX: ACW). Acting for CWG since their initial introduction and investment into Australia in 2014 in relation to their mixed use and residential projects and joint ventures in Sydney and Brisbane: ‘Uptown’, Roseville’, Victoria Road, Ryde, ‘Marine’s Hill’, Epping, ‘The Peak’, Parramatta; and ‘Illumina’, Toowong and ‘Vivir’, Nundah (QLD).
- Folkestone (ASX: FLK) FLK has $1.6b in FUM and $207m in Total Assets current to 2018). Acting for FLK since 2011 in relation to the following blue-chip development funds / joint ventures in Sydney and Melbourne: Hornsby, Millers Junction, South Dural, Green Square, Wollert, Wollongong (NSW); and Hadfield Nunawading and Truganina (VIC).
