After decades spent putting together the jigsaw puzzle of properties that went into the city block WIN Grand development, WIN boss Bruce Gordon has sold the site.
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The billionaire has sold the block bordered by Keira, Crown, Atchison and Burelli streets to developer Level 33 for $70 million.
Mr Gordon will still have a hand in the project, looking after the commercial component - the office space on the Keira-Crown streets corner.
Unveiled in September 2021, the WIN Grand development was to include 402 apartments across three residential buildings, a cinema, exhibition space and music venue, office space, and retail along the Crown Street frontage.
Mr Gordon put the city block on the market last year, sparking national and international interest before Level 33 was chosen as the buyer following an expressions of interest phase.
Level 33 is the developer behind the likes of Skye Wollongong, the tower replacing Chicko's opposite the WIN Entertainment Centre, Atchison and Kenny at the former fruit market site and the planned apartment complex on the Villa D'oro site in Flinders Street.
They are also behind the $66 million development in Kiama, unveiled last month.
"The sale of WIN Grand is the highest land value transaction for a development site in the Wollongong CBD and while WIN will no longer own the site, we remain committed to the project and will continue our involvement by investing back into the site," Birketu and WIN CEO Andrew Lancaster said.
"Consolidating the WIN Grand site was a good investment for us as we wanted to create something special for the city. We are happy to collaborate with Level 33 on our shared vision."
Level 33 director Eddy Haddad said they will add the WIN Grand development to its list of projects already in the pipeline.
"Level 33 jointly has 3200 homes in the pipeline in the Illawarra and more than 5000 homes in its broader portfolio to deliver over the next five years," Mr Haddad said.
"We are excited with the acquisition to take over the WIN Grand site and realise the vision of a connected Wollongong CBD."
Mr Gordon's WIN Grand dream started way back in 1990 when he bought the Grand Hotel.
A year later he paid $2.85 million for the NRMA, and another two properties along Crown Street for just over $2 million combined.
In 2014 he slapped down $6 million for the former Commonwealth Bank site and, in 2015, bought the IMB head office for $6.25 million.
His company Birketu bought the final remaining property - the medical centre - in late 2021, which allowed him to unveil the WIN Grand concept.
The WIN Grand concept was approved by the Southern Regional Planning Panel in February last year.
Colliers Wollongong brokered the WIN Grand sale and managing director Simon Kersten said the $70 million transaction trumped the firm's previous biggest deal - last year's $40 million sale of the Wollongong Bunnings site.
Mr Kersten said parts of the WIN Grand site would have always been sold at some stage; noting Birketu was unlikely to have held onto the 400 apartments once completed.
But he didn't believe the original plan was to sell off the whole site before work began.
"I don't think the intention was to sell it [from the start], I think the intention was to build it," Mr Kersten said.
"But obviously things change, it took some time for the DA to get approved and then Bruce made a decision that he wanted somebody else to take it over.
"A half-a-billion dollar real estate development is not something that anyone wants to take lightly. The decision was made to find somebody of scale and experience to do it justice and make sure it could be delivered and that's what we've done."
Part of what got Level 33 over the line was its presence in Wollongong, Mr Kersten said.
"It was their track record in general, in that they have delivered thousands of apartments in their history and they have more in their forward pipeline. And they've delivered them in Wollongong and we've seen what they've delivered."
The sales process took 12 months, with up to six people working on the WIN Grand project at any one time, Mr Kersten said.
"It was a really large job - it was one where we wanted to make sure we exposed the property to the maximum possible market," he said.
"We started that process in late June last year with a marketing campaign, that received more than 100 enquiries. You can imagine the amount of time you would have to spend with each of those 100 enquiries to explain this very complex DA and work through the mechanics of a high-level half-a-billion dollar project."
With an approved DA in their pocket, Mr Kersten said Level 33 was hoping to get to work on the project "as quickly as they possibly can".
Colliers Wollongong has long managed the properties in that block for Birketu, and Mr Kersten said the businesses there now are on month to month leases, fixed-term leases or with a demolition clause.
"We have co-ordinated the leases so that development is possible at the appropriate time," he said.
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
