ABC tipped to fetch $40 million for 1.4ha Artarmon TV production site
The ABC is set for a financial windfall with the listing of a 1.4ha industrial site used for television production over the past 60 years on Sydney’s north shore.
The Artarmon property at 2-8 Lanceley Place and 14 Campbell St in Artarmon is tipped to fetch circa $40 million with strong interest expected from developers hungry for land.
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Known as Studio 26, the site has a sound stage, production offices, dressing rooms, wardrobe and laundry facilities, with additional support services available including hair/makeup room, scenery runway, loading docks, and a multistorey car park.
Knight Frank agent Scott Timbrell, who shares the listing with Angus Klem, said the site was expected to be hotly contested when it hits the market due to its location, development potential and the fact that it has multiple uses.
“This offering is a unique and rare opportunity for an incoming purchaser to acquire a very substantial site on Sydney’s prestigious lower north shore,” he said.
“It’s not often that a site of this size in such a prime location would come up for sale, so we anticipate significant buyer interest.”
Australia’s national broadcaster was based in Artarmon until it moved to inner-city Ultimo in 2003. Artarmon had been a television hub over the years with studio owned by SBS and Fox Sports found in the suburb, while Channel 9 was based next door at Willoughby until last year.
Recent purchasers in the Artarmon area have included data centre operators Next DC and Keppel DC, as well as Ausgrid, while other owners in the precinct include Dexus, Telstra, and Mirvac.
The ABC site is zoned General Industrial (IN1) under the Willoughby Local Environmental Plan, with a maximum potential FSR of 1.5:1 (including. bonus 0.5:1), with no maximum building height.
“We expect to field inquiry from a wide range of buyers, with the site likely to appeal to data centre providers, industrial developers and retail owner-occupiers and investors,” Mr Klem said.
“We believe one of the most appealing future uses for the site would be as a data centre facility, but it also has strong industrial upside.”
The Artarmon Industrial Precinct has been confirmed in strategic planning as playing an important role in continuing to support intensification of employment uses including high technology and ancillary health uses, given the locational context.