Hoteliers lodge at Hudson House, headquarters of the very rich
Australian Hotel Association NSW has beaten four prominent family offices to secure another floor for itself at Hudson House, the Macquarie Street address that is home to some of Sydney’s most powerful family offices.
Notwithstanding its unassuming facade, a position at Hudson House is highly sought after by the city’s movers and shakers, with its sweeping views of Sydney Harbour and the Royal Botanic Garden, as well as the deep networks within its four walls.
Built in 1965, the office building is headquarters to some of the country’s most sophisticated family offices including Cambooya, the offices of the Fairfax family. It has previously housed Ritam, the family office of Gretel Packer.
The NSW arm of the nation’s peak hotel lobby group paid $10.7 million to take ownership of the building’s fourth floor in what is the most expensive strata deal for a single floor of office this year. In doing so, the hotel lobby group outbid four prominent families for the office, according to sources familiar with discussions.
AHA will take over the floor from law firm Speed and Stracey, which is best known for working closely with family offices and high net worth individuals. The transaction allows the AHA to house all its staff under one roof. It already occupies Hudson House’s top two floors.
Pub and hotel baron Sam Arnaout took over a floor in the building late last year, following the death of Logie-award-winning actress Joy Chambers-Grundy, the widow of late television king Reg Grundy. Ms Chambers-Grundy had kept the space in Hudson House after Mr Grundy’s passing in 2016.
Other notable tenants include one of Australia’s largest and most private hedge funds – Caledonia, the fund run by Will Vicars and Mike Messara and started by Mark Nelson along with Ian Darling – as well as the family office of Ramsay Health founding director Michael Siddle and the Scheinberg family office, which was an initial backer of Stockland Group.
Ms Packer sold her holding in the building for $13.5 million in 2021 and has since bought a commercial building in Edgecliff where Godolphin, the thoroughbred breeding and horseracing outfit run by Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has its offices.
Unicorn run
CBRE’s Angus Windred handled the latest Hudson House transaction alongside colleagues Callum Cooke and Harry George. The sale of two floors in the building within 12 months was unusual as its floors have traditionally been very tightly held, Mr Windred said.
“This has been a unicorn run. Sam bought the late Reg Grundy’s floor, which was an estate sale essentially and this was unexpected too,” Mr Windred said.
“I don’t see anything else coming to market.”
Speed and Stracey, like many law firms, will take advantage of low rents and move to a bigger space in Chifley Square at the end of this year after 27 years at Hudson House.
Speed and Stracey managing director Malcolm Stewart said the law firm was expanding, and Hudson House could no longer fit the firm’s staff on one floor.
“We wanted to have everyone on the same floor and Hudson House wasn’t able to fit that. We thought it was a good time to move, as rents aren’t that high at the moment and there’s plenty of space around so we got a good deal,” he said.
“We’re still close to our clients. We’re not that far away from Hudson House and there are plenty of family offices nearby.”
Unlike other sectors with a big presence in the Sydney CBD, law firms have not needed to downsize despite the tougher economic conditions. Instead, lawyers have been the most active tenants in upgrading offices, with Speed and Stracey following more than a dozen top-tier firms including Allens, Ashurst and Minter Ellison in changing digs.
