Sydney's Oxford Art Factory up for sale, owner Mark Gerber says it's 'business as usual'
Sydney's Oxford Art Factory is up for sale next week, but the boss behind the long-standing live music venue has assured that "it is business as usual" for the CBD hotspot.
Located on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst, the Oxford Art Factory, known as OAF, is set to go under the hammer at an auction next Thursday.
The property is described as a "rare and iconic Sydney Metro investment" with a fit-out valued at $2.7 million and a "new 10-year lease" from October plus "options till 2035".
However OAF's Mark Gerber told triple j only the property was up for sale, not the business.
"We are selling the strata [property] only, not the business. The business is not for sale," Mr Gerber said.
"We have a lease that extends beyond 2025. It is business as usual for the OAF."
"We thank everyone past, present and into the future for their support of the OAF and its program of live music and the arts."
Live music lovers have been drawn to the Darlinghurst venue since 2007, and the OAF's upcoming gig schedule shows there is plenty more still to come.
Violent Soho will play a sold out single launch this Friday, the reunited Philadelphia Grand Jury are on Saturday, and looking further ahead, performances from Tuka, Bully and Mansionair.
The venue will also host a number of Falls Festival sideshows in January as well as Laneway Festival sideshows in February.
The news of the OAF property sale comes nearly a month after the operators of Sydney's GoodGod Small Club put the basement venue on the market, emphasising their decision was not inspired by the controversial lockout laws.
However, the trading restrictions, which see venues locking punters out at 1:30am and serving last drinks at 3:00am, have been blamed for a string of Sydney's live music venues shutting up shop since their introduction last year, including Hugos Lounge, The Imperial Hotel and Soho.
At the time of the historic Lansdowne Hotel closing to become a music school in August, Mr Gerber said the lockout laws had damaged Sydney's culture.
"The lockout may be counterproductive in the sense that it's dealing with the violence, but one thing that's also suffering because of it is the culture of the city, the soul of the city," he said.
Inner-west outfit and former unofficial Annandale Hotel house band Stick Fingers recently covered 1981 classic Ghost Town by The Specials as a protest against their hometown's lockout laws.
Source: ABC News, 21st October 2015
Originally published as: Sydney's Oxford Art Factory up for sale, owner Mark Gerber says it's 'business as usual'
