Michael Grassi: Inside the Byron Backpackers Deal

In the latest episode of The Deal, The Urban Developer’s chief executive Adam Di Marco talks to Podia’s development director Michael Grassi about how the Sydney developer put its foot on a hotly contested Byron development site. 

Podia acquired the former Byron Backpackers on well-heeled Jonson Street, where it intends to build a Richards and Spence-designed hotel-apartment project.

The developer, in a joint venture with Centennial Property Group, won approval for the sculptural landmark last year, which is slated for completion in mid-2024.

The consortia then inked a deal with iconic Byron brand Rae’s to stamp its luxury brand on the development. 

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The 41 two, three and four-bedroom hotel-apartments have been designed as a part-time coastal retreat and a short-term rental when owners are not in residence. 

Podia acquired the premium 4248sq m site at 116-118 Jonson Street site in 2021 for $18.55 million and successfully navigated planning for a three-storey, 41-apartment development. 

“It really is quite a unique place,” Grassi says.

“As many of us know, it’s loved by all the Australians who have visited it, and it also has an enormous appeal to the overseas market. It really has that local appeal and that international appeal. 

“It was really that sort of what’s not to love about Byron and the magic dust that sits between all of that.”

Grassi says the site came on to the market in November, 2020 and had been owned by a local family, who created Australia’s first backpackers. 

To hear more about how this Sydney developer set its sites on a placemaking hotel in Byron’s luxury market, click here.