Sydney Water offloads old Drummoyne Reservoir for $3.75 million to mystery buyer

“The site is under settlement and we’ll be able to provide more details once the sale has been finalised,” he said.

The 1802-square-metre site contains heritage-listed structures which cannot be removed. Photo: Supplied

The property is due to settle in mid-October.

As first revealed by Commercial Real Estate in May, Sydney Water had offered the site to the City of Canada Bay below market value, but the council did not respond to the offer.

That prompted the NSW government-owned corporation, which considers the property on the corner of Reservoir Lane and Rawson Avenue to be surplus land, to list the asset on the open market.

A petition, organised by Canada Bay mayor Angelo Tsirekas, urging Sydney Water to hand the site to the council, as well as to fund the restoration of the run-down reservoir and tower, collected more than 1500 signatures out of a target of 2500.

“It’s been a part of the Drummoyne’s history (sic) since 1913 and it is up to us to make it clear to this state government that we don’t want it sold off to the highest bidder,” the petition said.

The council wanted to repurpose the land for use as a public park, it said.

“The sale of the site on the open market could lead to a number of undesirable consequences. In the worst case scenario it could result in significant residential development.”

But the historic structures, which take up more than half of the land, cannot be demolished due to their state heritage listing, leaving little space for major development on the site zoned R2 for low-density residential use.

It is understood Sydney Water had been prioritising buyers who would adaptively reuse the property, which is the only reservoir with its tower intact in NSW.

While CBRE selling agent Victor Sheu would not comment on the new owners or their intentions, he said the site, on 1802 square metres, attracted interest from developers, private users and religious groups.

“The unique nature of the property attracted a lot of attention,” he said.

Built in 1913, Drummoyne Reservoir stopped supplying water more than 50 years ago and was disconnected from the system in 1994.