HEMMES NABS KINGS GREEN SITE FOR $200M
ENTERTAINMENT tsar Justin Hemmes has made a dramatic play for a new site in the Sydney CBD that could one day be transformed into a super complex to rival his landmark Ivy party palace.
The billionaire has quietly bought the Kings Green development site for about $200 million, where plans for a $1.8 billion office skyscraper will now make way for one of his trademark high-end bar and restaurant precincts.
His Merivale operation has picked up the amalgamation of four buildings in the King, Clarence and York streets precinct between Town Hall and Wynyard.
It is likely to open laneway-style restaurants to activate the buildings, which form a land bank adjoining the Hotel CBD on King St.
In coming years the company will undertake a major revamp of the heritage-styled buildings, likely turning them into Sydney’s next big entertainment precinct.
Although a boutique hotel may come down the track, Merivale will not pursue construction of a major skyscraper on the site.
The buildings are being acquired from the private True-Green Positive Impact Group, which assembled the properties for about $170 million and had initially hoped to build a 49-storey green office tower.