Several former telephone exchanges (aka Central Offices) operated by Telstra in Australia have been sold and are slated for redevelopment.

Sydney exchange set to be developed into apartments

First reported by the Urban Developer and Manly Daily, Provent Property Group is looking to replace the Mona Vale telephone exchange with an AU$23.2 million (US$16m) residential development.

The single-story 910 sqm (9,795 sq ft) building at 1763 Pittwater Road, some 30km (19 miles) north of central Sydney, will be demolished and see development of a five-story, 28-apartment building with ground-floor retail space on a 1,445 sqm plot (15,554 sq ft).

Provent has applied for the development with the Northern Beaches planning committee. On its website, Provent lists plans for a project in Mona Vale known as ‘the Junction.’

Up for sale last year, the site was reportedly sold in December for AU$10.8m (US$7.4m), with a three-year sale-leaseback in place.

The application states the exchange will be replaced with an underground structure adjacent to Bungan Lane under a separate planning application.

Redfern and Kogarah exchanges sold

Telstra is one of many incumbent telcos globally that are exiting or redeveloping their exchange footprints as they shut down copper networks and switch to full fiber.

The telco has sold a number of exchanges, with many set for redevelopment. Two others around Sydney have recently been sold.

Telstra put its Redfern Telephone Exchange at 103-109 George Street in Sydney up for sale in February last year. Built in 1957, the seven-story, 4,000 sqm (43,056 sq ft) building sold last week, according to Knight Frank, with the buyer reportedly identifying it as a “redevelopment opportunity.” The facility is next to the original two-story exchange building at 117A, which dates back to 1913 but was sold in 2013.

Another Telstra exchange building was sold this year to hospitality firm Oscars Group for AU$4.35m (US$3m), with a three-year sale-leaseback in place. The 2A Belgrave Street building, in the Kogarah area of Sydney, totals 1,265 sqm (13,616 sq ft) across three stories.

Telstra sells Melbourne exchange

Telstra has also sold a telephone exchange in Melbourne to a developer. First reported by Real Estate Source, the ASX-listed telco has sold 752 Pascoe Vale Road in Glenroy to Marwood.

The 865 sqm (9,310 sq ft) facility, located on a 1,750 sqm (18,837 sq ft) plot around 13km (eight miles) north of central Melbourne, was sold for AU$1.7m (US$1.2m), with a three-year triple net (NNN) sale-leaseback agreement (with one 12-month extension option).

Marwood confirmed the sale on LinkedIn. The company plans to redevelop the site into medium-density housing.

“This site represents a compelling opportunity to deliver housing in a market experiencing ongoing supply constraints across Victoria,” Marwood said. “We’re proud to continue pursuing projects that create real impact in growing communities.”

In Victoria, Telstra has previously sold several exchanges around Melbourne to interested developers.

In 2022, the telco sold its exchange at 30 Cambridge Street in the Box Hill area of Melbourne to Zynergy Property for AU$4.7m (US$3.2m). A 10-story office block is planned on the site. Another small exchange in the Rowville area of Melbourne was up for sale in 2023.

A post office and exchange building in the Armadale area of Melbourne was sold to Up Property in 2024. The 1,475 sqm (15,877 sq ft), two-story building was sold with the three-year lease in place.

In the Hawthorn area of Melbourne, Telstra sold its Camberwell exchange at 80 Camberwell Road in 2024 for a reported AU$6.35 million (US$4.4m), again with a three-year leaseback in place.

Telstra’s multi-year copper network switch-off started back in 2014. The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) shutdown is nearly complete, and the shut-off of other copper-based broadband services is ongoing.

The company previously sold a telephone exchange in Brisbane on a long-term sale-leaseback basis, and the site is now set to be demolished and redeveloped into an office property.

2019 saw Telstra sell a minority interest in 37 telephone exchanges to Charter Hall, in an AU$700m (US$501m) sale-leaseback deal. Those leasebacks were on average 21-year terms, with Telstra retaining a 51 percent stake. The telco sold three data centers in Europe and Asia to I Squared Capital the same year, moving them under Hong Kong telco HGC Global Communications.

Around 2020, Telstra said it planned to convert 650 of its exchanges into Edge computing facilities. It’s unclear if the company still has such plans.

Canadian telco Telus is in the midst of shutting down its copper network to focus on fiber, and is converting many of its telephone exchanges into residential developments.

In the UK, BT and Openreach are in the early phases of a major telephone exchange exit program.

Spain’s Telefónica has completed its copper shutdown, closing some 8,000 sites, and is relaunching around 100 as Edge data centers.