City of Sydney offloads vacant Darlinghurst property for about $7 million

Stockton House has sold for around $7 million. Photo: Supplied

City of Sydney offloads Stockton House for about $7 million

Jack Needham|Jun 17, 2019

The City of Sydney has offloaded a long-vacant, mixed-use building on a prominent corner site in Darlinghurst to a Sydney-based developer for close to $7 million following an expressions of interest campaign.

The building, constructed around 1911 and known as Stockton House, is located at 73-75 William Street, on the corner with Riley Street and close to Hyde Park.

Investor and developer Greg Shand’s Barana Group has purchased the five-storey property with plans to refurbish it throughout and lease it as creative office space.

“The candidate that has been successful will deliver a beautifully appointed commercial asset to the city fringe that will present a unique offering to the leasing market,” Matt Pontey, manager at Colliers International, said.

He added that the Riley Street precinct was becoming increasingly popular with tenants from the creative industries.

The property, which is not heritage-listed but sits within a conservation area, currently consists of a ground-floor retail showroom and office area with basement level along with three upper levels of commercial space.

Barana Group also owns the nearby Riley Street Gym and the Readers Digest Building in Surry Hills.

The expressions of interest campaign attracted plenty of interest from parties drawn to the 242-square-metre site’s B4 mixed-use zoning and city fringe location, according to Miron Solomons, national director, investment services at Colliers International.

“The campaign attracted significant and strong interest with over 80 inspections of the property from a range of developers, investors and owner-occupiers both onshore and off,” Mr Solomons said.

The City of Sydney was unable to comment on the sale at the time of publishing.

“Ultimately, the price and unconditional terms proposed by the successful candidate were acceptable to the City of Sydney and has delivered an exceptionally strong result for the City and future of William Street,” Mr Solomons said.

The sale is one of several commercial assets in Darlinghurst to be offloaded in recent months.

The nearby Watters Gallery building at 109 Riley Street sold to Eden Property Developments in March,

“There is strong demand for commercial property in the city fringe, evidenced by the auction of Watters Gallery which we sold at auction two months ago for $5.5 million,” Mr Pontey said.