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A luxury development by Fortis Development Group in “Sydney’s most coveted suburb” broke records last week.
As part of the presale process for the luxury residences in Woollahra, a former theatre at Oxford Street that will be transformed into a three-level private home by Mim Design was sold for $16.5 million.
The sale of trophy residence Ox House, formerly the Diamond Horseshoe Theatre, sets a residential record for Sydney’s Oxford Street.
The onsite launch of the Collection yielded $116 million worth of apartment sales and five, including Ox House, were above the $10-million mark.
The development includes six townhouses of two to three storeys called Magnolia Terraces, and 18 apartments of one to four bedrooms at James Street.
Fortis associate director John Yacoub told The Urban Developer that Woollahra was one of Sydney’s most tightly held suburbs with limited opportunity to buy new homes.
Managing director of Stewart Residential and CBRE Residential Projects agent Ben Stewart said that there were some special circumstances with the Woollahra sale.
“It’s pretty obvious that the Woollahra and Paddington area doesn’t have and hasn’t had for some time any new apartments like this, so there’s a lot of build-up of demand.
“That demand is especially for two and three bedroom apartments,” Stewart said.
Sophisticated buyers were key to its success as well, Fortis’s Yacoub said.
“The project has had a really strong launch weekend, which can be credited to a considered campaign and months of planning to ensure we made the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of providing brand new residences in Woollahra.
“In addition, our buyer demographic is typically quite well informed of market conditions, and they are also quick to act when they see the right opportunity, which is what we saw with the Woollahra Collection.”
Design was another key factor, and four architects collaborated on the Woollahra Collection: MHNDU, Phoebe Nicol, Alexander & Co. and MIM Design.
“It’s been curated by four outstanding architects, you have a collaboration of all those outstanding designers who put their own feel and design and finishes, and it’s a different offering to the other houses there,” Stewart said.
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Woollahra Collection indicated some trends in the market, Stewart said.
“[It’s symptomatic of] a flight to quality,” he said.
“People see that there isn’t going to be another one of those whether it be in Woollahra or in other parts of the city.
“People recognise a great development site and we’re seeing very strong interest and people are prepared to go into those type of developments.”
Despite concerns over the state of the Sydney residential market in recent years, the luxury sector is certainly booming.
“It’s one of the great cities of the world and when you’re in Woollahra, next to the village at Queen Street and 10 minutes from Bondi, you’re geographically placed in such a great position.
“And we’re seeing that right across Sydney, there’s a strong interest for quality developments.”
Construction is due to start in August and is expected to complete in Q4 of 2024.
Fortis has been regularly adding to its Double Bay pipeline, with a cinema complex in the works for a former carpark and a major $195-million development that was approved last week.
