Telstra sells two surplus exchange sites for $5.5 million at auction
Telstra has offloaded two exchange sites in NSW under the hammer for a combined $5,495,000.
The Silverwater Exchange property at 98 Parramatta Road, Lidcombe, of 1939 square metres contains a single-storey 1564-square-metre building.
The sales are part of Telstra’s $1-billion real estate sell-off of an estimated 2500, or almost half, of their exchange sites. The company’s requirements for land are reducing as modern network infrastructure is simplifying.
The Telstra exchange in Merewether sold for $995,000. Photo: Supplied
The telecommunications giant has a network of 5300 exchanges across Australia, many of them in residential areas. The sites were traditionally used to connect local telephone calls.
A Sydney-based investor snapped up the Lidcombe property for $4.5 million, which will be leased back to Telstra for four years until 2022.
Opening at $2.5 million, four bidders pushed up the price quickly in $350,000, $150,000, and $100,000 increments at first, before a final bid of $40,000. The property received 47 bids in 12 minutes at the Ray White auction on Wednesday.
The block has a 55.5-metre frontage and is zoned B6 Enterprise Corridor, which allows a mix of uses including neighbourhood shops, hotel or motel accommodation, office, light industrial and food and drink premises.
The 735-square-metre Telstra Exchange at 125 Ridge Street, Merewether, in Newcastle, sold for $995,000, after bidding started at $500,000.
The site will also be leased back to Telstra for four years with a proposed gross annual rental income of $28,100 plus GST.
Petersham Inn passed in at $3.35 million. Photo: Supplied
Ray White Commercial NSW’s Joseph Assaf, Samuel Hadgelias and Jeff Moxham sold the Lidcombe property and Ray White Commercial Newcastle’s Lee Follington and Kyle Cable were the selling agents on the Merewether listing, as well as Mr Hadgelias.
Another Telstra property in Sydney’s San Souci is for sale through expressions of interest.
Charter Keck Cramer is the transaction adviser on the three Telstra properties.
“Properties of this calibre in a good location with a secure leaseback are in high demand,” Mr Assaf said.
A hotel in Sydney’s inner west, the Petersham Inn, at lots 10 and 11, 386 Parramatta Road, Petersham, passed in at the same auction, after a vendor’s bid of $3.35 million.
One buyer opened the bidding at $3.1 million, which auctioneer Jason Andrew said was “south of the owner’s expectations”.
The developer which built 92 apartments above the hotel in 2001 is selling the strata-titled Functionalist Art Deco pub, built in the 1930s.
Another property up for auction, a development site in Wolli Creek with development approval for residential redevelopment, passed in at a vendor’s bid of $4.8 million, while a freestanding building in Parramatta also passed in at $3.1 million after nine bids.
