Justin Hemmes

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The Sydney pub king Justin Hemmes has bought up again in the small south coast hamlet of Berrara near Jervis Bay.

This one's a relatively small $780,000 transaction compared to his previous Shoalhaven holiday home purchases.

But it takes his total spend in the small village to over $11 million. 

It's Hemmes fifth purchase in the sleepy coastal village that adjoins the Conjola National Park.

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It is a non-beachfront 1,062 sqm block though the imposing double brick three bedroom home comes with views of the ocean.

The purchase is just across the road from his beachfront compound. 

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Hemmes started his property portfolio acquisitions in Berrara in 2006 with another non-beachfront when he paid $665,000.

It was 2007 when he spent $4.15 million on Halcyon, a historic four bedroom beach house on 3,000 sqm, located 200 kilometres south of Sydney.

The home was long owned by the Arbitration Commission president Sir Richard Kirby who sold for $425,000 in the 1990s having paid 400 pounds in 1952.

The home had hit the national front pages in the 1994 Christmas holiday when Kirby's house guests, Prime Minister Bob Hawke and his biographer, Blanche D'Alpuger, were first revealed as a couple.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had rented the home for $3,000 a week when it became a guesthouse in subsequent years when overseen restaurateur John Pegrum. 

Hermes also bought the properties adjoining Halcyon mid last year for $6 million taking his beachfront holdings to nearly 8,000 sqm.

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Its Colliers selling agents Gaby Rogers and Geoff Payne had marketed the property as a rare find.

Hermes also has a rural retreat further down the south coast, the $7.5 million Glasshouse Rocks estate retreat at Narooma.

It is a 60-hectare farm.

Hemmes became Merivale CEO in 1997.

The dynamic chief executive officer of family owned hospitality group Merrivale, resides in Vaucluse, living in the eight bedroom heritage gothic mansion bought by his parents, John and Merivale in 1974.

The Merivale group owns a growing portfolio of more than 65 restaurants, bars, pubs and hotels across Sydney, including the Coogee Pavilion, The Newport Arms Hotel and The Beresford.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.
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firstname1-iYD4UYzvBa

Justin Hemmes buys a bit more of south coast Berrara hamlet 

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Merivale boss Justin Hemmes has paid $37.05 million for The Tennyson Hotel in Sydney's south.
The auction conducted by auctioneer Damien Cooley for Ray White attracted 250 people including the who's who of the pub industry.
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The Tennyson, whose design is illustrative of a Sidney Warden-designed inter-war functionalist structure, fetched a record hammer price for hotels. 
The Ray White Hotels Asia Pacific director Andrew Jolliffe listed the Top 100 gaming property, The Tennyson Hotel at Mascot.
 Set on Botany Rd, the Tennyson Hotel is a popular hotel with 30 gaming machines.
"Notwithstanding the latest ranking at 87 in NSW, the hotel requires an upgrade," Jolliffe advised. 
The leading hotel architect Paul Kelly has designed a renovation which has DA approval.
"Only a very small number of Top 100 gaming hotels have changed hands over the past few years," commented Jolliffe.
"The reality is that this should be a Top 50 Gaming hotel," he added.
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The two-level large format hotel is on the busy Botany Road and High St corner.
Its allotment is 1400sqm.
Jolliffe's client, JDA Hotels recently contemplated an unsolicited offer, advised John Feros of JDA Hotels.
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The hotel, even in its currently unrenovated state, attracts in excess of $8m in annual receipts from predominantly high gross profit margin revenue centres.
 
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Merivale's Justin Hemmes pays $37.05 million for Tennyson Hotel

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Hotelier Justin Hemmes wants to have more sunlight in his heritage harbourside Vaucluse home, The Hermitage.
The Hermitage, one of the earliest mansions in Sydney's east, is of the Victorian Rustic Gothic style, built in an era when the curtains were drawn.
The latest proposal by architects Hess Hoen for Hemmes is for a $260,0000 sunroom pavilion designed to be sympathetic to the overall style of the home which for many decades made do with an enclosed verandah space.
The 35 sq m space "enables the sunroom extension to be read as a separate pavilion in the garden," the recent application to Woollahra Council advises. 
Since taking ownership in 1975, the Hemmes’ family have not made any major changes, their impact mainly consisting of the re-decoration of interior spaces.
It was in 2011 when Justin Hemmes, the chief executive officer of the Merivale hospitality group, moved back into his family home, where he had previously lived with his parents, Merivale and the late John Hemmes, and his sister Bettina.
In 2012 there were some $750,000 in renovations with Hemmes telling Vogue he favoured a relaxed, individual approach.
Hemmes’ overall vision was to preserve the building’s integrity but begin to open it up to allow light and an organic flow through the 7000-square-metre space.
“A home is a very personal thing; it should be a reflection of how you like to live and what makes you feel comfortable,” he said.
“It’s not a project that has to excite;  it’s about finding your own relaxation and pleasure.”
The Hermitage is a very significant property known for its association with some of Sydney's most influential retailing dynasties including the colonial jeweller Alexander Dick, the McCathie haberdashery family, Victor Boyce of Palm Island Fashions, Theo Kelly of Woolworths and most recently, the Hemmes family of Merivale and Mr John fame.
The house, now set on 4978 sq m, was almost destroyed by fire in 1936, iignited by embers from an attempted back burn in the nearby gully area on the Hermitage Reserve.
Almost all of it was rebuilt in 1937, with architect Emil Sodersteen’s careful attention to detailing ensuring that the replacement "only evident on the closest inspection."
The main house was constructed of solid sandstone blocks with a terracotta Marseilles pattern tiled roof. Its 1965 wing is clad in sandstone veneer and has matching green terracotta tiles.
The interior of the main house is dominated by the imposing cedar-paneled entrance hall and main stair with a gallery extending around the hall at the upper level.
"This baronial quality is carried through into what was once the billiard room and is now the main family living room and then into the formal dining room," the heritage report noted.
"One of the most notable characteristics of the house is that although it has undergone so many layers of change it still ‘reads’ as a substantially intact yet distinctively personal family home," it noted.
This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.
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Sunroom pavilion slated for harbourside Hemmes Vaucluse mansion The Hermitage

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Sydney's beachfront Collaroy Hotel has sold to the Hemmes-owned Merivale group in an off-market sale.
The Collaroy Hotel was bought by Mitchell Waugh and others in 2010 and underwent wholesale renovations in October 2014 and was sold by Andrew Jolliffe, Asia Pacific Director of Ray White Hotels.
According to reports in The Australian, Justin Hemmes, chief executive of Merivale, said The Collaroy was in a “truly spectacular” location, with sweeping views of the ocean and sand literally at its door step.
“This is a really exciting addition to the group, and one that will beautifully complement what we’re creating at The Newport,” The Australian reported.
I love the northern beaches; it is a magnificent area and we are incredibly proud to be part of it."
The nearby <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/41220-justin-hemmes-buys-the-newport-arms-hotel" target="_blank">Newport Arms Hotel</a> was sold to Merivale in March 2015. The beachside watering hole also joins Merivale’s other northern beaches local, Papi Chulo in Manly.
Prior to these purchases the group concentrated on the inner Sydney market.
The deal saw Mitchell Waugh’s Public House Management Group (PHMG) sell the hotel and although none of the parties involved have revealed the figure Merivale has paid, many media outlets are putting the deal at around $21 million.
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jonathanchancellor-7SQnKwU6yx

Sydney's beachfront Collaroy Hotel sold to Hemmes-owned Merivale 

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Hospitality group Merivale has snapped up Vic on the Park Hotel in Sydney's Inner West, adding to its pub portfolio.
The deal value was not known immediately, but is estimated to be between $22 million-$25 million.
The latest transaction follows another hotel deal by the Justin Hemmes-led Merivale in August.
Sydney's beachfront <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/74479-sydney-s-beachfront-collaroy-hotel-sold-to-hemmes-owned-merivale" target="_blank">Collaroy Hotel was bought by the Merivale</a> group in an off-market sale, with market chatter putting the deal at around $21 million.
The Vic on the Park is Merivale's second pub in the area after Hemmes' purchase of the Queen Victoria hotel on Enmore Road in 2015, according to the <a href="https://www.goodfood.com.au" target="_blank">goodfood</a> website.
"We have a self-imposed mandate to grow this wonderful business both deliberately and responsibly, and wherever we see property backed opportunities for us to create unique experiences for our loyal client base" said Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes in a media release.
The Vic on the Park Hotel is a large format, 1,247 sqm hotel site on the corner of Addison Road and Enmore Rd in Sydney's Marrickville. 
It has 25 electronic gaming machines and the venue generates more than $7.46 million in annual sales.
“Vic on the Park has long been at the heart of Marrickville, a vibrant community hub where people of all ages and walks of life can come together”. “We have loved being part of the Inner West since opening Queens last year and can’t wait to take on what is undoubtedly an important and cherished venue in the area” Hemmes concluded. 
The hotel was sold by the Australian Pub Fund (APF), the seventh such sale of an A-grade freehold hotel by the Carnegie, Singleton and Dixon private equity joint venture vehicle over the past 12 months. 
Ray White and CBRE were running the international expressions of interest campaign closing September 28.
"We employed a strategic and very public sales campaign involving both national print and digital media levers, and the response was consistent with our expectations for an A-grade property holding of this commercial complexion" said Ray White Hotels' Andrew Jolliffe. 
"Our guidance throughout the campaign was between $22m and $25m, and that is ultimately what we achieved for our client," he said. 
CBRE Hotel's Daniel Dragicevich added that the mixed development momentum within the precinct the hotel is situated generated lot of enquiries from hoteliers and developers. 
The Vic was part of their Australian Pub Fund portfolio, a private equity group currently exiting strategic hotel investments to recycle equity, goodfood said.
The APF also sold Newtown's Marlborough Hotel to Matt Moran and Bruce Solomon's Solotel group in April.
The Vic is popular for its live music, sports, bistro dining and a carpark that hosts outdoor gigs, record fairs and even the odd basketball game.
Merivale will receive the keys to the Vic on November 13. The pub will trade as per usual.
 
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Justin Hemmes' Merivale buys Enmore's Vic on the Park hotel 

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Hotelier Justin Hemmes has bought the Centennial Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs as his commercial property splurge continues.
The reputed $15 million purchase comes after recent acquisitions of the Royal Hotel in Bondi, the Vic on the Park in Marrickville and Collaroy's beachfront hotel.
Hemmes also recently spent nearly $9 million on a <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/77407-justin-hemmes-buys-commercial-kitchen" target="_blank">commercial kitchen</a> to service his growing portfolio.
Ray White's Asia Pacific director of hotels Andrew Jolliffe secured the off-market sale of The Hotel Centennial without formal price disclosure.
Jolliffe has now sold in excess of $1.75 billion in hospitality assets in the past five years.
Jolliffe has long espoused the view that market conditions for A-Grade hospitality properties enjoy strong favour and tightening yields.
"We've been both liberal and robust in our view over the past 24 months that the spread between cost of funding and yield for A-Grade hospitality assets is well placed to contract further next year" he said.
"The fundamentals are all pointing to this outcome, and the argument supported by astute hotel investors, by virtue of deed, is illustrative of this market response" Jolliffe concluded.
The Hotel Centennial is a landmark double storey Eastern Suburbs Hotel occupying a 780 sqm Oxford St location opposite Centennial Park.
lt was sold by the Medich family, who recently sold the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel, The Woolwich Pier Hotel and Mosman's Buena Vista Hotel.
The Medich family, via their Halcyon Hotels vehicle and headed by Anthony Medich, acquired the hotel in 2014 and undertook substantial renovations; consequently attracting clientele from both the broader Eastern Suburbs; as well as the design, art and fashion industry.
"Like a handful of other iconic hotels, The Hotel Centennial is a very valuable piece of Sydney commercial property, and for decades has been a favoured meeting place for local residents and visitors to the area," Jollifee said.
"We are delighted to have again enjoyed the Medich family's trust with such a valuable asset, and feel equally pleased to have matched this famed property with such an appropriate suitor in Justin Hemmes."
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Jolliffe was announced the 1000 office Ray White Group's <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/75909-ray-white-announces-hotel-broker-andrew-jolliffe-as-top-agent-internationally" target="_blank">number one agent</a> internationally in 2017.
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jrobinson-rf4aSBido9

Merivale's Justin Hemmes adds Hotel Centennial to portfolio

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Justin Hemmes now has so many hotel venues, he's gone out and spent $8.95 million on kitchen premises at Marrickville to supply them all.
His hotel acquisition trail has intensified over recent months and years.
Justin Hemmes, who has been Merivale CEO since 1997, has spent $175 in the past three years, his biggest outlay The Newport which cost $46 million.
The Merivale group owns a growing portfolio of more than 65 restaurants, bars, pubs and hotels across Sydney.
The proposed kitchen space is just around the corner from <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/76836-justin-hemmes-merivale-buys-enmore-s-vic-on-the-park-hotel" target="_blank">Vic on the Park in Marrickville</a>, his most recent purchase which cost around $20 million.
In the immediate vicinity are the Merivale owned <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/62967-merivale-s-justin-hemmes-pays-37-05-million-for-tennyson-hotel" target="_blank">Tennyson Pub in Mascot</a>, the Queens Hotel in Enmore and the nearby Vic on the Park.
LJ Hooker Commercial Sydney City Fringe agent Jim Marinos sold the kitchen space property that last had traded for $2.75 million in 2010.
He sold the building at public auction, but Hemmes wasn't in attendance.
His empire includes the Coogee Pavilion, The Newport Arms Hotel and The Beresford.
Hemmes trading in the commercial space has always taken priority over his residential holdings, but that's seen some acquisitions too.
All on or close to the water.
Last year he <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/68008-justin-hemmes-buys-a-bit-more-of-south-coast-berrara-hamlet" target="_blank">expanded his holdings</a> in the small hamlet of Berrara, down near Jervis Bay.
He has spent over $11 million on property in the area, dating back to his first $665,000 purchase in 2006.
Hemmes also has a 60 hectare rural retreat further down the south coast, the $7.5 million Glasshouse Rocks estate retreat at Narooma.
His Pittwater waterfront acquisition came last year when he <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/buying/52928-justin-hemmes-secures-pittwater-retreat-from-laurence-eastwood" target="_blank">bought the waterfront</a> of one of Australia’s most distinguished production designers, Laurence Eastwood.
His family home is the harbourside Vaucluse mansion, The Hermitage.
The Hermitage was built in the Victorian Rustic Gothic style and is one of the earliest mansions in Sydney's east.
Hemmes grew up in the home that belonged to his parents, mother Merivale, his late father late John Hemmes and his sister Bettina.
His most recent move was to submit <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/73414-sunroom-slated-for-hemmes-mansion-the-hermitage" target="_blank">plans for a sunroom pavilion</a>.
Landscaper Michael Bates recently undertook a makeover for The Hermitage garden, which he dubs an entertainer’s garden. The garden comes complete with an outside bathtub, and the de rigour fire pit too.
This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.
 
 
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Hotelier Justin Hemmes secures commercial kitchen to services his venues

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Prominent Sydney hotelier Justin Hemmes has been included in this year's Rich List.
Hemmes and his family have amassed a $951 million fortune via the ownership of 70 pubs, hotels, restaurants and venues in and around Sydney, including The Ivy on George Street in the heart of the CBD. No reason for their recent absence from the list was readily offered.
He joins the biggest group of Rich Listers, property magnates, who account for 51 of the 200 names. The family retains property dating back to 1972 when it bought the Angel Hotel for $500,000 on Pitt Street, Sydney.
Hemmes just misses being among the record 76 billionaires on the Financial Review Rich List.
They include billionaire Meriton's Harry Triguboff.
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Most of the property names on the list are in the booming residential sector.
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<div>The 45-year-old Hemmes is among 12 new names in the 2018 edition which will be published tomorrow.</div>
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Hemmes' late father John and mother Merivale jointly appeared on the BRW Rich List in 1984 with a net wealth of $12 million, the first edition of the list in its current form.
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Thirty-five years ago, BRW Magazine compiled the first annual list of the 200 richest people in Australia, a year after the first BRW 100 was printed in 1983.
Last year, the list became the Financial Review Rich List. There are 15 names on this year's list that where in the 1984 edition.
John and Merivale Hemmes' 1984 Rich List entry attributes their wealth to their John and Merivale clothing chain that was started after John moved to Australia in 1952. He then met, and married, Merivale, a milliner.
They set up a clothing chain, one of Australia's leading fashion chains in the 1960s and 1970s, the cash flow from which they bought property holdings.
Apparently John and Merivale Hemmes had once been evicted from a rented property in central Sydney and swore they would never pay rent again.
The Hemmes family properties include the Establishment Hotel on George Street, which cost $9 million to buy in 1998 and the CBD Hotel on York Street, which John Hemmes bought in 1993 for $3.1 million. 
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Those two properties are worth at least 50 times more, the Rich List suggests, and along with The Ivy, where a 55-storey-hotel is now planned, form the foundation of Justin Hemmes and his family's wealth.
In recent years the empire has expanded to include the Coogee Pavilion, Enmore's Queen Victoria Hotel and The Newport.
Sydney's beachfront <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/74479-sydney-s-beachfront-collaroy-hotel-sold-to-hemmes-owned-merivale" target="_blank">Collaroy Hotel was bought by the Merivale</a> group in an off-market sale, with market chatter putting the deal at around $21 million.
The Centennial Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs was a recent purchase.
Hemmes also recently spent nearly $9 million on a <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/77407-justin-hemmes-buys-commercial-kitchen" target="_blank">commercial kitchen</a> to service his growing portfolio.
He has also spent millions on personal properties including on the NSW south coast town.
His home is the heritage harbourside Vaucluse manor house, The Hermitage.
The Hermitage, one of the earliest mansions in Sydney's east, is of the Victorian Rustic Gothic style, built in an era when the curtains were drawn. 
It was bought in 1975 paying $500,000 in a 1970s credit squeeze fire sale when it was sold by Dick Baker following the 1974 collapse of his company Mainline.
It was in 2011 when Justin Hemmes, the chief executive officer of the Merivale hospitality group, moved back into his family home.
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Hemmes hotelier family return to Rich List 

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The Urban Taskforce has announced hospitality trailblazer Justin Hemmes as its 2018 Property Person of the Year. 
“Justin Hemmes has revolutionised Australia’s hospitality industry by bringing a new level of sophistication, creativity and ingenuity to Sydney’s dining and entertainment landscape”, says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “His innovative properties, like Establishment, ivy, Coogee Pavilion, The Collaroy and The Newport offer unique, memorable and internationally renowned experiences, and have transformed Merivale into a peerless hospitality powerhouse”. 
The Urban Taskforce represents the development industry’s risk-takers and Justin Hemmes has been an outstanding entrepreneur in the way he has acquired old hotel sites and venues across Sydney and turned them into must-visit destinations. 
Since taking the reins of his family's fashion business in 1997, Justin has made a major mark on commercial property development in Sydney, dominating the hospitality sector and expanding the Merivale portfolio to include a host of the country's most ambitious and successful hospitality transformations. his Merivale portfolio now includes over 70 venues that have galvanised their local cultural economies and magnetised tourists from around the world.
The redevelopment of Hotel CBD in 1995 was one of the first projects fronted by Justin. Taking a true hands on approach by working on site as a brickies labourer for a year and a half, Justin drove the design and refurbishment to turn what was a bookstore and commercial space into a multi-story hotel. Hotel CBD pushed societal boundaries by reimaging the concept of pubs as a predominantly male domain to places where both men and women could happily socialise for any occasion. From this, the first multi venue pub was born; presenting a variety of different spaces for people to make their own. 
In the mid-nineties he purchased the Slip Inn and redesigned the original pub and its four adjoining terraces to accommodate beautiful bars and the Chinese Laundry nightclub, completely reinvigorating a desolate pocket of Sydney’s CBD. In 2000 he opened Establishment in the burnt-out ruins of the former George Patterson House on George Street; creating a nine-story entertainment complex now home to fine dining, a boutique hotel, private event places and the award-winning 240-seat Cantonese restaurant Mr Wong. 
In 2007, Merivale launched the ambitious $160 million ivy project to create an urban oasis in the heart of the city. This 20,000 square metre mixed-use development is home to 12 boutique shops, 18 bars, nine restaurants, a rooftop pool, a garden atrium and a large ballroom. He also had the foresight to create and activate two surrounding laneways, providing Sydney with the way of life enjoyed in European cities. A sanctuary in the middle of the CBD, ivy quickly became the destination, helping shape Sydney into a truly great global city. 
Ivy has won a host of awards including: 
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National Hotel of the Year at 2014 AHA National Awards for Excellence 
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IDEA09 Interior Design Excellence Awards - IDEA09 Overall Winner and Hospitality Winner and Multi-Residential, Highly Commended
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Australian Institute of Architects National Awards 2009 - Harry Seidler Award for Commercial Architecture and National Award (Urban Design)
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Australian Institute of Architects (NSW) 2009 - Lloyd Rees Award for Outstanding Urban Design and Commercial Architecture Award.
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Justin’s enthusiasm for designing, building and operating exciting venues does not stop. After his developments in the city, he has reinvigorated the top end of Oxford Street with the Paddington, Fred’s, Charlie Parker’s and The Chicken Shop. He transformed the derelict beachfront Coogee Pavilion from a pub into a dynamic lifestyle destination and re-envisioned the landmark Newport Arms Hotel as The Newport. New ventures have increased Merivale’s footprint across Sydney even further, from Queens Hotel and Vic on The Park in Sydney’s thriving Inner West to The Royal in Bondi, Tennyson Hotel in Sydney’s South-East and The Collaroy on the idyllic Northern Beaches. And he’s also forecasting an even bigger redevelopment of the ivy site. 
Urban Taskforce Chair Peter Daly says “We are amazed at what Justin has achieved across Sydney in a manner that has set new standards for every project. His innovations always cause ripple effects that have added energy to surrounding buildings and areas that were previously degraded. He is a very worthy winner of Property Person of the Year award for 2018 and he joins distinguished former winners that include Harry Triguboff (twice), Lang Walker, Bill Moss, Greg Goodman, Wal King, Bob Rose, Garry Rothwell, Ross McDiven, Tony Perich, Steve McCann, Iwan Sunito, Joe Khatter and Sarkis Nassif.” 
The 2018 Property Person of the Year Award dinner appropriately will be held at Justin’s landmark venue, ivy, on 28 November. A crucial motivation for these annual events is to raise funds for the two charities supported by the Urban Taskforce: Warrah Homes and St Vincent’s Prostrate Cancer Research. The Urban Taskforce has raised more than $4million for these charities over the past 17 years. Justin and Merivale also support various charities— including Ronald McDonald House, the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Royal Hospital for Women. 
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Justin Hemmes named Urban Taskforce Property Person of the Year

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Hotel baron Justin Hemmes has bought the office block adjoining the Ivy, his prime Sydney CBD hospitality venue.
Hemmes, the CEO of the family founded hotel giant Merivale, bought the Westpac site at <a href="https://www.commercialrealestate.com.au/property/312-318-george-street-sydney-nsw-2000-2014470995" target="_blank">312-318 George Street</a>, which sold with a lease pre-commitment from St George Bank for the entire retail footprint.
Hemmes is reportedly seeking outside investors to back the project for the first time in Merivale's six decade history, according to The Australian which broke the story.
The sale came with approved plans for a 16 storey, 195 room hotel with ground floor and mezzanine level retail (above).
It's expected the hotelier is not likely to follow through with the plans however, instead slating a mooted $1 billion redevelopment of the expanded site.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2018/12/13/Hemmes1.jpg" alt="">
"It is not imminent and we have not lodged any plans, but it was always my intention to redevelop the site with an office tower and maybe a hotel,'' Hemmes told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hemmes said it would probably be at least a three-year process to get approvals.
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"We will start from scratch and given Sydney's strong demand for office space, an office tower would be a viable option, but I've not decided on the final outcome," Hemmes said.
"The redevelopment and upgrade of George Street, Sydney is a major opportunity and we will work to get investors and developers on board."
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The building is rumoured to be 55 levels, including a number of hospitality outlets as well as an expansion of Ivy.
McVay Real Estate agent Sam McVay sold the property directly opposite Wynyard Station to Hemmes, who paid around $10 million more than the price expectations.
It's a change in focus for Hemmes, who has been quiet on the hotel purchasing front this year.
In 2017 he went on an inner Sydney pub spending spree, snapping up <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/78258-merivale-s-justin-hemmes-adds-centennial-hotel-to-portfolio" target="_blank">Hotel Centennial</a> at Woollahra, Enmore's <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/76836-justin-hemmes-merivale-buys-enmore-s-vic-on-the-park-hotel" target="_blank">Vic on the Park</a>, the <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/74479-sydney-s-beachfront-collaroy-hotel-sold-to-hemmes-owned-merivale" target="_blank">Collaroy Hotel</a> and an $8.95 million <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/expert-insights/investing/77407-justin-hemmes-buys-commercial-kitchen" target="_blank">commercial kitchen in Marrickville</a> to service his venues.
He also focused on his residential portfolio, <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/68008-justin-hemmes-buys-a-bit-more-of-south-coast-berrara-hamlet" target="_blank">expanding his footprint in Berrara</a>, a small inlet on the South Coast, and <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/73414-sunroom-slated-for-hemmes-mansion-the-hermitage" target="_blank">adding a sunroom</a> for the family's iconic Vaucluse mansion The Hermitage. 
It's a return to the CBD for Hemmes, who's ancestors began their venture into hospitality in the city when they opened a Thai tea café within their Sydney CBD fashion building in 1970. 
 
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Justin Hemmes

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Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

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