Eastern Suburbs-style glow-up is nearly complete with luxury apartment, wellness resort

Neutral Bay Village’s Eastern Suburbs-style glow-up is near completion with the luxury apartment and private wellness resort complex, Pienza, due to open in weeks.

McVay Real Estate’s Sam McVay has been tapped by Pienza’s developer, Central Element, to manage the sale of Pienza’s retail area, at 12-14 Waters Road, Neutral Bay, which is expected to sell around the $35 million mark.

It almost seems the building was designed for locals with Eastern Suburbs tastes.

Anchored by the most upmarket Dan Murphy’s to open in Sydney since the drinks retailer’s Double Bay store opened a decade ago, Pienza’s 1654-square metre retail area will include popular Pilates studio Body Love and the artisan Wholegreen Bakery, in their first forays north of the bridge. A high-end hospitality operator is also preparing to move in.

McVay, who is also managing the sale of the Artarmon HomeHQ, is bullish on the north shore retail market.

“Sydney’s lower north shore represents one of Australia’s most densely populated and affluent catchments. New retail development is severely constrained, and there will be over 8000 new apartments added. Tenants and investors alike are attracted to these fundamentals.”

Vroom vroom

In one of the larger deals in regional New South Wales, the Panorama Motel, near the famous Bathurst racetrack, has changed hands for the first time in a decade for about $25 million.

In an off-market deal, the Gibbons family have sold the large-scale 70-room property on a 1.2-hectare site to Harris and Narvo Hotels whose portfolio includes Hotel Gosford and the Lakes Hotel on the Central Coast, plus venues in the Newcastle and Snowy Mountains regions.

Bathurst is the 8th largest inland city just three hours west of Sydney and has been home to the famous 1000-kilometre touring car race every October since 1963 when it was relocated from Phillip Island, Victoria.

Located on 51 Durham Street, the main thoroughfare of Bathurst, it is adjacent to the Bathurst Showground and includes 12 poker machines, 70 suites, a manager’s apartment and swimming pool.

Kate MacDonald from JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group completed the sale.

Industrial deals

Two major landholdings are on the market aimed at industrial property developers.

The NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure is selling a 15,610-square metre vacant industrial site at 55 Eastwood Road, Leppington. It has been deemed as surplus and not suitable for housing, according to the NSW government’s property audit.

It is zoned light industrial, allowing for significant development including for a logistics facility or large equipment/vehicle storage yard. No price was disclosed. Colliers agents are selling the site.

At 77 Denison Street, Banksmeadow, a substantial 71,800-square metre land holding with significant development potential is for sale with a price tag of about $175 million. The vendor is Indorama.

It is home to the Botany Industrial Park which was established in the 1940s and was originally owned by the former ICI Australia, now known as Orica. It was subdivided in 1998, resulting in multiple owners.

Colliers’ team of Michael Crombie and Trent Gallagher is handling the sale.

Ovolo deal

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Ovolo Group have announced a strategic partnership that will lead to five Ovolo hotels across Australia and Hong Kong joining the Wyndham hotel brand.

Under the deal, Ovolo Group will continue to own and manage the Ovolo brand while exclusively working with Wyndham to unlock additional development opportunities throughout the Asia Pacific.

The collaboration between Wyndham and Ovolo comes amid booming consumer demand for experiential travel, valued by McKinsey as a $US1 trillion ($1.5 trillion) global opportunity, driven largely by younger travellers, including Gen Z.

As part of the partnership, five existing Ovolo hotels, representing more than 450 rooms, located in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Hong Kong, are expected to officially become part of Wyndham’s portfolio later this year.

Each will be integrated into Wyndham’s sales, marketing and distribution platforms.

Among the locations slated to join the Wyndham portfolio are the Ovolo Nishi, Canberra; Ovolo South Yarra, Melbourne; Ovolo The Valley, Brisbane and Ovolo Woolloomooloo, Sydney.

carolynannecummins@gmail.com

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