This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
SYDNEY hotel owner and developer, Iris Group, is selling a development site in the heart of Parramatta’s Gateway precinct, which is expected to attract significant interest.
According to Savills director residential site sales Neil Cooke and Stuart Cox in conjunction with Khoury & Partners’ Anthony Khoury, George Khoury and Jon Race are marketing the property.
They said the timing of the Iris listing could not be better.
“The state government has underlined the importance of Parramatta in no uncertain terms with, among other things, its $10 billion infrastructure investment for Parramatta and Western Sydney, including the new $1 billion Light Rail network.
“What that means for Iris Group’s Crown Hotel site at 295-309 Church St is the confidence that state government backing provides to developers to proceed with the sort of ambitious and exciting projects that sites such as this can deliver to a City in the midst of an incredible growth phase,” Cooke said.
The 1,082 sqm site is located in a core CBD Gateway position and adjacent to the proposed $250 million Riverside tower development.
The B4 Mixed Use zoning allows for a variety of uses including commercial premises, a luxury hotel, residential tower or a combination of those uses. Parramatta City Council recently received Gateway Approval for an increase in FSR to 10:1 with a height limit to part 12 metres and part 150 metres.
Khoury said the site could potentially support a development with gross floor area of circa 12,000 sqm (STCA).
Khoury declined to put a price on the property instead citing the recent sales of 135 George St (cnr Harris St) and the Thompson Ford site, which are now earmarked for mixed use/residential developments.
George St – the Albion Hotel site on 3,135 sqm – sold in September this year for $60 million through Khoury & Partners with a mixed use, 26,000 sqm planning proposal, while residential developer, Dyldam paid $70 million for the nearby 3,300 sqm Thompson Ford site (corner Church St and Great Western Highway).
“The market for mixed use and or/residential development sites is white hot and so we’re expecting a very strong reaction from both local and off-shore interests. Given recent price history it is going to be very difficult to put a price on what is essentially an exceptional property with enormous development upside,” Khoury said.
Australian Property Journal
