This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THAKRAL Holdings is taking advantage of the strong investment appetite in Sydney by putting its $215 million Menzies hotel and Wynard centre on the market.
Thakral has been encouraged to sell the Wynard Complex following its successful disposal of the Australia on Collins shopping centre and Novotel on Collins hotel in Melbourne for $204 million.
The complex comprises the historic 446 room Menzies Hotel, Thakral House office building comprising 11,600 sqm of commercial office space, a retail concourse with 70 outlets, and a 335-bay commercial car park.
Thakral has appointed Jones Lang LaSalle to market the property, which is conducting an online expression of interest campaign.
JLL Hotels Australasia CEO Craig Collins said the Menzies Hotel is the first major Sydney CBD hotel to be offered for sale with vacant possession since 2008.
“With enormous refurbishment potential, the hotel has significant scope for improvement. This flexibility will provide an incoming owner with a range of possibilities during the investment lifecycle to fully leverage off the ongoing strength in Sydney’s highly sought after hotel market.
“Thakral House is perfectly suited to be refurbished and repositioned as a quality boutique office building, providing an incoming owner with the ability to achieve rental growth in a market with vacancy constraints and limited incentives,” he added.
JLL’s Australasia head of retail investments Simon Rooney said the highly strategic mixed use nature of the site, with Barangaroo on its doorstep and the Wynyard railway link, has created a major landmark redevelopment opportunity.
He added that the site has already generated keen interest.
“This sale represents an extremely rare opportunity to acquire a significant mixed use asset in the heart of the Sydney CBD with strong existing cashflow, numerous income uplift and value add opportunities, as well as future redevelopment potential,” Collins said.
Before Thakral decided to put it officially on the market, the complex has already fielded bids from Grocon and Brookfield Multiplex, which had submitted a bid for the asset in May.
The Wynard complex is expected to pick up interest from overseas investors as well and comes at a time when Sydney’s investment market is bustling.
Earlier this week, United States-based global Pembroke Real Estate’s bought 20 Martin Place from ANZ Bank for $95 million.
Other deals in the past two months include the Commonwealth Property Office Fund selling 259 George St to Singaporean billionaire Tay Tee Peng’s private investment company MemoCorp for $395 million. Mirvac offloading a 50% stake in 8 Chifley Square to the Singapore listed K-REIT for $154.4 million.
And Cbus Property paid $36.5 million for a 50% stake in 5 Martin Place; Abacus Property Group bought 309 George St from the George Group for $68.75 million and Australian Catholic University purchased NCR House for $57.3 million.
Australian Property Journal
