Developer, dominatrix trade historic church
Toga Group has paid $6 million for a desecrated ex-Wesleyan church opposite its proposed Surry Hills Village, in Sydney’s inner south.
The c1880 building on a B4 Mixed Use zoned 578 square metre block at 422-424 Cleveland Street, staring down Marriott, Surry Hills, will in some form be incorporated into that project, the buyer said.
The vendor, septuagenarian dominatrix Gretel Pinniger, or Madame Lash, offered it permit-ready for a boarding house conversion, with 24 studios across five floors.
She paid the Methodist Church $205,000 in 1986, utilising it as an alternative party venue, The Kirk.
JLL’s Dylan McEvoy, Willem Watson and Gordon McFadyen brokered the latest deal, which prices the land at $10,381 per sqm.
Elsewhere in the suburb, last month, we reported Canva was outlaying over $120m for a rundown office to occupy at 8-24 Kippax St.
In June, meanwhile, publican Paul Fischmann’s 8 Hotels banked c$30m for Sydney’s first cross laminated timber guesthouse, 202-210 Elizabeth St, also in the pocket.
Also five months ago, Melbourne based Shakespeare Property Group picked up Reservoir on Crown, in Surry Hills, from LaSalle Asset Management, for $115m.
Colourful history
The Kirk was used as a gallery and concert space for decades before Ms Pinniger, now based in Palm Beach, purchased it.
In 1977, AC/DC filmed the clip to Let There be Rock there, with Bon Scott presiding on a mock-altar, sometimes in a pulpit.
A sales campaign five years ago was unsuccessful.
The permitted development would contain 1156 sqm.
“Surry Hills and the wider city fringe precinct is undergoing a huge transformation, thanks to a number of major infrastructure investments,” Mr McEvoy said (story continues below).
“The precinct benefits greatly from increased connectivity to the Sydney CBD Light Rail,” he added.
“Surrounded by several economic drivers, it’s the confluence of art, culture and history that makes the precinct one of Sydney’s liveliest quarters,” according to the executive.
Toga invests again in Surry Hills
Being on the south side of Cleveland St, Surry Hills Village is classified Redfern.
“We are thrilled to have been successful in acquiring The Kirk – an iconic piece of Sydney’s cultural history,” Toga general manager, Development, Paul Shaw, said.
“We see The Kirk as complementary to our vision for Surry Hills Village,” he added.
It will throw away the boarding house permit, which drew local objection.
“Our plan for transforming the site [is] to incorporate office and event space, as well as…retail space to the adjacent laneway,” according to the executive.
Replacing a Coles supermarket, on 1.2 hectares, Surry Hills Village will contain about 154 apartments in three buildings, a 102-suite hotel with a rooftop bar and pool, and 12,000 sqm of retail and office space incorporating a historic Bank of NSW branch.
A 517 sqm portion is also earmarked for a park.
The end value is speculated to be c$400m.
Elsewhere in Surry Hills, Toga in 1994 replaced the Crown Street Women’s Hospital with the Adina Apartment Hotel, which it manages.
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