Chau family offloading home of iconic BBQ King restaurant for $25 million
Sydney restaurateurs the Chau family are selling the heritage building that currently hosts their BBQ King restaurant – a CBD dining institution famous for its Peking duck – with price expectations of around $25 million.
Located at 76-78 Liverpool Street, the six-storey building was purchased by Acepal Investments Pty Ltd for $6.3 million in 2010, according to Domain Group data.
Company records list BBQ King operators Philip and Agnes Chau as directors of Acepal.
The Chau family relocated the BBQ King restaurant to the 350-square-metre site in 2016, moving from its longtime home at 18-20 Goulburn Street where it had been a fixture of the Chinatown dining scene since 1983.
The restaurant currently spans three floors of the Liverpool Street building, including a mezzanine “VIP” level.
Listing agent Jordan Lee, joint state head, Asia market at Savills Australia, confirmed that the Chau family plan to keep operating the BBQ King restaurant at the Liverpool Street location following any sale, with a lease to the business (which is a separate entity to Acepal) currently in place.
76-78 Liverpool Street was completed in 1906, originally acting as a warehouse facility for businesses associated with the nearby Darling Harbour Goods Yard.
Heritage records indicate that it was occupied by the NSW Government Printing office from 1911 before being vacated by 1918.
The building, which is being marketed by Savills Australia, has undergone major refurbishment at least three times, the most recent in 2010. Records indicate that the building was listed for sale by expressions of interest in 2017 with Sothebys but was later withdrawn.
Mr Lee said the high-profile nature of the BBQ King restaurant was expected to generate plenty of investor interest in the site.
“BBQ King is a famous dining destination that all locals know and love and its location at 76-78 Liverpool Street is strategically positioned to benefit from the master-planned Barangaroo and Darling Harbour Live projects,” Mr Lee said.
“We expect interest from a range of buyers, both locally and offshore, looking for a safe haven investment, and a successful and popular tenancy such as BBQ King is just the icing on the cake for a property such as this,” said Savills’ Andy Hu, who is sharing the listing with Mr Lee.
