Probuild headquarters for sale following company collapse
The NSW headquarters of collapsed building giant Probuild will go under the hammer next month as administrators seek to claw back some of the millions owed to creditors and employees.
The freehold modern office building is expected to garner substantial interest due to its size and location in a tightly held pocket of Darlinghurst.
The listing comes 60 days after Probuild entered administration, owing millions of dollars to 2300 creditors and almost 800 employees.
Deloitte, the administrators of the failed construction company, will manage the sales process.
Colliers agents Miron Solomons, Matt Pontey and Matthew Meynell have been appointed to sell 83-85 McLachlan Avenue, which is scheduled to go to public auction on May 26.
The property has been the home of Probuild’s NSW operations since 2007, when the construction company bought the site for $5 million.
The agents said they were not in a position to provide a price guide for the property, citing the financial circumstances surrounding the sale.
But Mr Solomons said the campaign was already off to a strong start.
“It’s been live for 24 hours and the enquiry is fantastic, which is expected for that part of the city fringe,” he said on Wednesday. “We have to sell it on auction day.”
The three-storey building has 682 square metres of floor space and on-site parking for up to 12 cars.
Owner-occupiers, investors and developers are expected to vie for the site, located in a flexible mixed-use zone with a height limit of 18 metres.
Mr Solomons said the turnover of commercial assets in the Darlinghurst precinct was extremely rare. “The last freehold sale on this street was this building in 2007,” he said.
His colleague Matt Pontey said the Darlinghurst and Rushcutters Bay areas had proven to be a risk-averse market.
“There isn’t a vendor in these markets who has regretted placing their capital into these prestigious and highly desirable suburbs,” he said.
Probuild was one of Australia’s largest construction firms, with $5 billion worth of projects in the pipeline when it collapsed on February 24.
Fifteen projects were underway when the company went under, with several having returned to their developers.
In March, it was revealed that Roberts Co had acquired Probuild’s Victorian operations and instated 150 staff as permanent employees. Meanwhile, SRG Global paid $15.2 million to take over Probuild’s West Australian arm.
