Developers fall to some pier pressure - COMMERCIAL: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 15 June 2001: 40.
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Abstract
Once an outpost for sealers and smugglers, Piers 8 and 9 at Walsh Bay have unparalleled views up and down Sydney's famous harbour; with the bridge looming in the distance, it's plumb in the middle of the harbour's busy commercial life.
Piers 8 and 9 were jointly developed by Multiplex and Matt Handbury of Murdoch Magazines in 1999.
Mr Handbury owns 70 per cent of the development, now valed at $70 million. John David of David's Holding, which has substantial wholesale grocery interests, owns 11 per cent, or 1250sqm, bought recently at a confidential price. Multiplex owns the rest, consisting of the harbour end of the first two floors of thewharf.
THERE could hardly be a more desirable piece of commercial real estate on Sydney Harbour.
And it's for sale.
Once an outpost for sealers and smugglers, Piers 8 and 9 at Walsh Bay have unparalleled views up and down Sydney's famous harbour; with the bridge looming in the distance, it's plumb in the middle of the harbour's busy commercial life.
Prime Sydney Harbour commercial real estate has been selling for between $6000 and $10,000sqm in recent times. That makes the value of the 2146m site on offer at up to $21 million for a 99-year strata leasehold.
Piers 8 and 9 were jointly developed by Multiplex and Matt Handbury of Murdoch Magazines in 1999.
Mr Handbury owns 70 per cent of the development, now valed at $70 million. John David of David's Holding, which has substantial wholesale grocery interests, owns 11 per cent, or 1250sqm, bought recently at a confidential price. Multiplex owns the rest, consisting of the harbour end of the first two floors of thewharf.
Mr Handbury has his office on the top level.
"I've got the best office in the world," he said, looking across the passing cargo ships to the bridge. It's hard to disagree with him.
The piers, some of the last great wooden finger wharfs in the world, were built in 1910 as a response to the bubonic plague that had wreaked havoc through the local community in the 1800s. With high concrete ramparts, the wharves were specifically designed to stop rats coming ashore.
The piers remained derelict since containerisation made them obsolete in the early 1970s.
The fate of the famous wharves along Hickson Road at Millers Point in Sydney has long been one of the great architectural debating points of the city.
Any tourist wandering around from Circular Quay would soon find themselves in a deserted and often dangerous area.
In recent years fire brigades have been regularly called down to Hickson Road to extinguish fires started by squatters who made the wharves their makeshift home.
Attempts to develop the precinct have been dogged by controversy.
As Sydney City Council's historian Shirley Fitzgerald wrote in her book Millers Point The Urban Village: "The future of the Walsh Bay wharves was a complex issue."
By the 1980s "gone were the great ships and the vast cargoes of wool. The pandemonium of comings and goings on Hickson Road had given way to long silences in the now wide spaces of the waterfront".
Now the pandemonium is back and the squatters gone, as much of the precinct is being redeveloped.
The neighbouring wharf, demolished amid much opposition and now being rebuilt as luxury apartments, sold in little more than a week for around $400 million all-up last year.
Piers 8 and 9 are regarded as a heritage triumph, as an excellent example of a recycled historical building.
The floor was lifted piece by piece and replaced in its original spot so that the marks and scratches align exactly. The original corrugated iron has been restored.
A rare 1950s poster peeling from the wall declares "Less Cargo Less Jobs", reflecting the strong union history of the site.
Many of the original pulleys and mechanical features have been preserved.
Heritage architect for the site John Tropman said there was a "lot of hard work and negotiation with developers, owners, contractors and the authorities".
"In the end everyone has come out of the process feeling they have achieved something quite special."
Mr Handbury said getting the development over the line was not easy.
"There were so many different government authorities involved," he said. "It is a calming and enriching environment away from the humdrum, intensity and stress of our publishing life."
Multiplex director Denis O'Regan, the driving force behind the restoration, said: "This is a unique site. It is not for everybody. The person who buys this will be someone who has the money, walks in and falls in love with it."
Illustration
Caption: Driving force: Picture: Bob Finlayson; Photo: Photo
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