Sydney Macquarie Street retail shop lists with $3m guide, $205k net rent
For four decades, a legendary Macquarie Street newsagent routinely watched Australia’s elite walk through his doors for daily essentials, thanks to its proximity to Sydney’s most established legal, government and medical precincts.
From former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell to Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns and the nation’s highest-ranking High Court justices and legal leaders, the shop welcomed a rolling roster of notable figures.
Now, the ground-floor retail space at Lot 95, 229-231 Macquarie Street, where the newsagent operated, is heading to auction for the first time in 40 years, with a $3 million price guide.
The fully leased 139-square-metre commercial investment, which has since been converted into a mini supermarket with a rear law firm, presents a major entry-level value play in a booming precinct, says selling agent Andrew Vines, principal at Retail Commercial Consultancy.
Located in the William Bland Centre, the space originally served as a bustling banking chamber. It sits directly opposite NSW Parliament House and The Mint, and near the Supreme Court of NSW, Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital.
“The property benefits from a daily population of judges, barristers, government employees, medical professionals, office workers, patients and visitors,” Vines says.
As site consolidations and state infrastructure acquisitions shrink the pool of privately owned CBD strata, Vines says ground-floor assets on Macquarie Street have become highly defensive priorities.
“It is very unusual to have the opportunity to buy a substantial strata retail investment in this part of Macquarie Street,” he says, and points out the turnkey passive income and contractual growth.
The property currently brings in a steady $205,000 a year in net rent plus GST. The asset is structured to minimise vacancy risk by dividing its layout into two independent commercial spaces locked into agreements running until December 2028, with fixed four per cent annual rental increases.
The street-facing portion is occupied by iMart Stores, branded as the Macquarie Mini Mart.
“They’re an independent convenience store that leased the property late last year,” Vines says. “They bought whatever was left of the newsagency business because there was goodwill attached to the fact there’d been a convenience newsagency there for decades.”
The mini-supermarket features a modern fitout and wide glass frontage, and has two further five-year renewal options. Hyde Park Lawyers lease the rear and operate from a bespoke office suite, with no further renewal options.
The upper levels of the building host a variety of medical specialists, driving a steady stream of non-cyclical foot traffic straight past the ground floor.
Further value-add potential is growing right beneath the site; the building’s basement has secured development approval to renovate a 208-person licensed restaurant and offer live-fuel cooking.
The subterranean venue, which housed Fratelli Fresh Parlamento until mid-2024, will tap into a 50-year hospitality legacy, bringing life and evening foot traffic to the block.
The property is for sale via auction at 10.30am on Tuesday, November 10 at AuctionWorks, 50 Margaret Street, Sydney.
