Camilla’s upmarket Mosman store to close as GWS chair gets $10m windfall

Capital Gain

Australia’s kaftan queen, Camilla, is closing one of its high-profile stores in upmarket Mosman on Sydney’s lower north shore after more than a decade serving customers in the high-end strip.

The easily recognisable brand, founded by Camilla Franks in 2004, has grown into a global designer wear group, with its colourful patterns and prints now sold across 65 countries.

Camilla’s intricate beaded designs got a boost in 2023 when Tattarang, the investment arm of billionaires Andrew and Nicola Forrest, became a minority shareholder. Nicola Forrest said at the time that she was “excited to partner with Camilla, a company that is going from strength to strength”.

The brand was renting its store in Mosman, a leafy and affluent suburb, but the lease was up for renewal and rent was being hiked. The shop, one of the group’s smaller outlets, will close within weeks, but the label has other standalone boutique outlets nearby, including in Vicinity Centres’ recently revamped Chatswood Chase mall.

Camilla didn’t respond to Capital Gains’ request for comment.

It’s not the only apparel retailer to close in the area. Nearby, Country Road’s offspring label, Trenery, shut its store further along the Military Road strip last year.

Store closures reflect the changing face of high streets around the country, where private property owners are hiking up the rents to cover increased borrowing costs.

The shift to online sales is also driving change. Country Road closed a standalone store in Westfield Bondi Junction, although the label is still sold in the mall at Myer and David Jones, and shut the doors at its Queen Victoria Building store in central Sydney last year.

Got some griff

Local pub baron Jim Knox has sold his long-held Griffith Hotel in the NSW Riverina district for about $10 million to local hotelier Trent Middleton.

The mixed-use Griffith pub and motel opened 101 years ago and has extra land with development potential. Its sale means Knox has offloaded all the pubs he once owned in the Riverina region.

Knox last year sold the Gem Hotel, also in Griffith, for about $50 million to former Wallaby international Bill Young, and The Area, another pub in town, in 2024 for about $30 million, also to Middleton.

The Griff, as it’s known to locals, sits on a 4377 square metre block in the middle of town’s centre.

The pub was the site of Australia’s first political assassination, in which Liberal Party candidate and furniture salesman Don Mackay was gunned down in its car park in 1977. His body was never found.

Knox has said he wants to focus his business on the Northern Tablelands where he lives.

The deal was negotiated by HTL Property’s Xavier Plunkett and Andrew Jolliffe.

Motto’s mojo

Global hotel manager Hilton will open a new lifestyle brand, Motto, in Sydney’s York Street. The Motto by Hilton Sydney City Centre is the Hilton’s seventh brand in Australia.

Big international hotel operators commonly offer alternative styles of accommodation under different niche brands. Motto’s lifestyle brand offers “locally inspired experiences in the world’s most vibrant gateways,” the group says.

Introducing Motto reinforces Hilton’s continued expansion in the country, said Tal Shefer, the group’s senior vice president and brand manager in Asia Pacific. The new offering will be developed in partnership with Invictus Developments. Motto by Hilton Sydney City Centre is set to open in late 2027 and will have 152 rooms.

Motto by Hilton recently debuted in Asia Pacific with the opening of Motto by Hilton Hong Kong SoHo, Shefer said. “We’re excited to bring even more of Motto’s dynamic energy to vibrant neighbourhoods across the region.”

The Hilton is also looking to expand its luxury brands under the LXR Hotels and Resorts umbrella, which will include the country’s first Waldorf Astoria hotel at Circular Quay. The Circular Quay building is owned by Andrew and Nicola Forrest, after the pair paid $520 million to buy the prime site in February 2023. It’s slated to open in 2027.

Quick turnaround

Bluebird Early Education, operated by Adrian Fonseca’s Oxanda Education, sold a Sydney childcare centre just 24 hours after launching it to market.

The speedy transaction netted Fonseca $9.85 million on a 4.72 per cent yield. Fonseca, a property entrepreneur, is the current deputy chairman of the Greater Western Sydney footy team.

The 91-place long day care facility at 12-14 Preddys Road in Bexley was underpinned by a new 15-year lease, including options to 2071, and provided its new owner with starting rental income of $465,000 per annum plus GST.

Tom Moreland, Michael Collins and Brett O’Neill from Stonebridge Property Group advised on the sale.

carolynannecummins@gmail.com

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