Merivale Snaps Up Kings Green Development Site

Justin Hemmes’ Merivale has purchased a site previously earmarked for an office tower in Sydney’s CBD. 

TrueGreen Property Group put together the site from 2019 to 2021 for around $170 million, planning to build a 49-storey green office tower called Kings Green on it but listed it for sale earlier this year. 

The site fronts on to King Street, Clarence Street and York Street with 50 King Street originally planned as the main address and sits next to the Hotel CBD. 

Kirk Tsihlis’ TrueGreen planned to spend $1.8 billion building the tower by 2026 reducing both operational and embodied carbon in the project by 50 per cent, and were discussing development plans as late as November 2021 before putting it on the block through CI Australia's Mike Stokes, Shirley Fan and John Bowie Wilson. 

TrueGreen’s plans would have capitalised on Sydney’s tower cluster zoning which allows towers up to 330 metres high. 

Merivale has since purchased it for reportedly around $200 million, with plans to expand the Merivale entertainment venue portfolio further with a series of restaurants in the laneways and buildings on the site. 

Hemmes has previously touted plans to create an entertainment precinct in Sydney's CBD.

Merivale declined to comment further on the purchase after The Urban Developer reached out on Monday.

▲ Aerial view of the block that the former KIngs Green project site was part of, now owned by Merivale. Source: Nearmap

In the past 18 months, Merivale has spent more than $150 million buying up venues with four in Narooma in NSW alone. 

Merivale has recently bought Quarterdeck, Hotel Narooma, The Whale Inn and The Inlet in Narooma and has opened venues at Sydney Cricket Ground and the former Cheeky Monkey Bar at 115 Johnson St in Byron Bay and The Lorne Hotel in Melbourne.

Earlier this year, Merivale also found itself embroiled in a $129-million class action lawsuit for wage theft, accused of having failed to accurately pay workers what they were owed in award minimums under the Fair Work Act. 

In March the Federal Court found that the initial agreement was approved by the Working Authority as the then regulator when it should not have been after it was initially assessed as not meeting certain standards. 

Merivale now says it should not face charges for business decisions made using an agreement that a regulator approved erroneously. 

The case is still ongoing.