Mega property deal to transform King’s Cross
The face of the King’s Cross as Sydney’s entertainment hub is about to transformed forever with local landowners joining forces to try and sell the precinct’s world famous stretch of nightclubs and strip clubs to property developers.
Sapphire Lounge owner Charlie Saleh has been working to secure an agreement from land-owners along Darlinghurst Road that would see them selling the properties in a package to a developer.
He says the property owners have all signed an option agreement to commit to sale within the next three years. He estimates it will cost $200 million.
"In total there's almost 65 owners," Mr Saleh told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"They are happy to sign an option agreement with a developer. I represent all of them."
The plan is to rezone the area. This would see it getting two high-rise buildings modelled on Malaysia’s Petronas Towers.
It would comprise 500 luxury apartments with a starting price of about $1 million each.
He says this is all part of the changes that are now happening around Sydney. He is hoping that the developer would build towers reaching beyond 300 metres.
"From looking at what's happening around Parramatta, around Liverpool, the whole of Sydney has been transformed," said Mr Saleh.
"This is a long strip. It's a 100 metre long strip, 25 metres wide. You've got a railway station right across the road, my suggestion to developers would be to transform the railway station, transform the shopping centre car-park.
"Sydney needs something to be a gateway to it. This is the highest part of Sydney and it hasn't been developed."
All this has massive implication in light of the lockout laws.
But Mr Saleh says all of that has changed. He says the lockout laws have finished the precinct’s days as the engine room of Sydney’s night life.
"It will never be where it was," he said. "To take people away was easy."
by Leon Gettler, October 24th 2016
