No fire sale: North Sydney’s Firehouse Hotel changes hands in $35m-plus deal

The former fire station that serviced the North Sydney area was sold by Mark Barry, who owned the site at 88 Walker Street since 2001.

Constructed in 1895, the North Sydney fire station was designed in a Victorian style. In 2018, Barry sold the airspace over the hotel to developer Billbergia, which subsequently built North Sydney’s largest building, a $121 million, 35-storey tower above and beside it, housing the Citadines Walker North Sydney hotel, commercial offices and a rooftop bar.

Andrew Jolliffe and Dan Dragicevich from HTL Property advised on the sale.

Tumby Tavern sells for $7m

Meanwhile, in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, the ever-growing Epochal Hotels, run by Glenn Piper, has snapped up the Tumbulgum Tavern for about $7 million.

Piper and his co-investor William Nicholson, in a syndicate, have bought the waterfront Tumby – as it is known by the locals – at 126-134 Riverside Drive, which is a 20-minute drive south of the Gold Coast Airport and a 45-minute drive from Byron Bay.

Spanning 950 square metres on an expansive 2864-square-metre block, it was sold by pub investor Andrew Stratis, who bought it in 2014 and is now looking to retire.

Piper will add it to his expanding portfolio, which includes the Harbord Hotel in Freshwater and the Beach Hotel in Merewether.

Next month, the group will also reopen the Commodore Hotel in McMahons Point.

Ray White Commercial’s Burleigh agents Ryan Langham and Nathan Huxham worked on the deal.

Industrial rules at Banksmeadow

Industrial property is the hot ticket in town and a site at 1 Beauchamp Road, Banksmeadow, in Sydney’s east, is tipped to be bought for about $80 million.

The 42,986-square-metre property is being sold by a private investor and is close to Port Botany’s on-dock rail facilities.

The site comprises an operational intermodal terminal with exclusive rail sidings, currently leased to Pacific National and subleased to French company Veolia Environmental Services, both on a 20 plus 20-year lease.

It is surrounded by major occupants, including e-commerce giant Amazon, transport and logistics company Linfox, FedEx and Australia Post, and benefits from seamless access to key infrastructure including the M5 and M8 motorways, Sydney Airport, the Southern Sydney Freight Line and Port Botany.

The site is near 77 Denison Street, which is a substantial 71,800-square-metre land holding worth about $175 million.

Originally owned by ICI Australia, it was subdivided in 1998, resulting in multiple owners.

As of 2024, key stakeholders involve Indorama Ventures, and two other third-party owners, with IXOM also operating on site.

Colliers’ Trent Gallagher and Michael Crombie are managing the sale.

Meanwhile, the City of Sydney has leased 22 O’Riordan Street, Alexandria, to Vanable, one of Australia’s largest van conversion companies.

It is said to be the largest industrial lease in Alexandria over the past 12 months and the third-largest industrial transaction in South Sydney this year.

This deal was managed by the Colliers team of Michael Crombie and Jeremy Green.

Sisters of Mercy sell Mater Heights

The Sisters of Mercy, North Sydney and St Vincent’s Health Australia are selling a site comprising six freestanding homes across Gillies and Sinclair Streets, Wollstonecraft. It sits directly next to the Mater Hospital in North Sydney.

Totalling 3158.8 square metres, the landholding spans three street frontages and is zoned high- density residential under the NSW government’s Crows Nest Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) planning reforms.

That zoning allows for a medium-scale residential project. The vendors said they would reinvest the proceeds into delivering healthcare and supporting marginalised communities.

Mater Heights follows the sale of 8–24 Nicholson Street, Wollstonecraft, also within the Crows Nest TOD precinct, which achieved a sale price exceeding $60 million.