Bridgehill eyes $30m profit on Milsons Point tower

May 14, 2015

Just over a year buying the Kimberly-Clark-office-tower in Sydney’s Milsons Point from property billionaire Bob Ell, Bridgehill Group is poised to flip the site for a potential $30 million profit.

An offshore-backed consortium was in due diligence for the building at 52 Alfred Street for about $110 million, sources told The Australian Financial Review – although no deal has been struck yet.

Bridgehill Group had a successful track record in Australia in terms of quality apartment developments. It bought the nearby TAL Building at 80 Alfred Street for $49 million in 2013 and was constructing a luxury apartment tower known as the Bridgehill Residences at the site.

It also had also completed two luxury apartment projects, the Azure and Monaco, in Sydney’s waterside suburb of Rhodes. A $105 million residential project by the group at Sydney urban regeneration project, Green Square, was revealed in March.

Bridgehill Group managing director Yibin Xu declined to comment to the Financial Review. It was understood Colliers International was negotiating the transaction.

Bridgehill bought the tower leased to US company Kimberly-Clark for $80 million in February 2014. It acquired the site from Mr Ell, who bought the building for $50mn in 2010, himself making a $30 million on the property.

Sydney’s North Shore, and other parts of the city, had experienced hot demand from developers looking to take advantage of the apartment boom.

​Big-ticket developers were also chasing Channel Nine’s famous Sydney headquarters, once dubbed the “home of television”, in Willoughby, which was on the market through CBRE for more than $150 million. At St Leonards, Charter Hall group was also taking advantage of the activity and was expecting close to $140 million for its office building at 504 Pacific Highway. CBRE and Colliers International held the listing.

Closer to the CBD, Colliers International had been appointed by LaSalle Investment Management to sell an Elizabeth Street tower on Hyde Park for more than $150 million. The building at 179 Elizabeth Street, had long-term residential conversion potential.

Originally published by The Australian Financial Review