Splendour no more: Saul to sell Byron Bay’s premier festival site

Parklands, which hosted the festival for more than two decades but then abruptly cancelled in 2024 when pop superstar Kylie Minogue was set to headline, is 15 minutes from Byron Bay’s town centre and within 30 minutes of both Gold Coast Airport and Ballina Byron Gateway Airport.

The price was not disclosed, but expectations are around $35 million. Savills’ Leon Alaban and Selin Ince are handling the sale.

The site has approvals in place that could see it developed into an ultra-luxury private estate, a wellness retreat, or a boutique eco-development.

Splendour-organiser Secret Sounds revealed in January that the festival won’t return in 2025. The multi-day event “needs a little more time to recharge” but would “come back even bigger and better when the time is right”, the company said.

Derelict site

The derelict site of the former Balmain Leagues Club has been offloaded to Sydney-based property developer PERIFA, part of Versatile Group, along with investment partner Mitsubishi Estate Asia.

No price was disclosed, but the previous owner, the Sydney-based property investment house Heworth Holdings, paid $75 million for the property, known as Rozelle Village, in 2018.

The unloved building, on a prime intersection at Victoria Road and Darling Street, has been vacant for 15 years since it was sold to make way for the NSW government Metro Transport Project.

The new owners want to accelerate plans to turn the 7330-square-metre site into an $800 million mixed-use, “cultural and community” precinct.

They intend to build a diverse range of residential buildings, including a mix of premium private residences and affordable housing, alongside commercial, retail, communal open spaces and a long-awaited new home for the Wests Tigers rugby league club.

Demolition at the site is nearing completion, with the project currently progressing through a State Significant Development Application process. Versatile Construction will begin main building works by the end of June 2025, with project completion anticipated in 2028.

David Milton, managing director of residential projects at CBRE, will work with the developers.

Ring the till

ISPT Retail Australia Property Trust is testing the retail market, offering its high-performing NSW shopping centre in the Blue Mountains for sale.

The cost-of-living crisis hitting consumers is not diminishing investors’ interest in convenience-oriented retail property. The 5400-square-metre centre is anchored by a strongly performing Coles supermarket, which accounts for more than 86 per cent of the lettable area on a long-term lease until 2033, with options until 2073.

The Katoomba Village benefits from significant local trade, with the Coles outlet performing above the Urbis Benchmark average for a single supermarket-anchored shopping centre, said CBRE’s James Douglas, who, along with James Sherley, JLL’s Sam Hatcher, David Mahood and Sebastian Fahey, has been appointed to sell the asset.

Sold to Yi

A versatile high-density residential development site located in a strong Sydney growth corridor has been sold to Yi Capital for $24.5 million.

The 1263 sq m landholding at 153–155, 157 Anzac Parade and 7 Addison Road in Kensington spans three separate titles and has a mixed-use development opportunity.

With two street frontages on a corner site, the property has a passing holding income of about $470,381 per annum and a building height limit of 31 metres.

Colliers National Director Trent Gallagher handled the sale, and Colliers Valuations expert Christopher Milou supported the Singapore-based buyer.