Auction of Surry Hills Legion Cabs rank site draws a crowd and sells to apartment developer for $18 million

The long-held Surry Hills headquarters and vehicle rank of Legion Cabs has sold under the hammer for $18 million with more than 200 people attending today’s auction at the Ray White auction room in Sydney. 

It was bought by the RDA Property Group (part of the Discovery Group)  which developed the 14-apartment boutique development Carlton at Vaucluse under the stewardship of Danny Avidan.

Legion Cabs has owned and occupied the 1,370 square metre property at 69-81 Foveaux St for more than 50 years. 

It paid 50,000 pounds for it in 1961.

The taxi business decided to sell after committing to new headquarters in Wolli Creek and will be making the move over the next 12 months. 

It represents one of Surry Hills' largest ready-to-develop sites with flexible zoning permitting a range of uses and is likely to make way for either a residential or office development. 

Bidding started at $9.88 million with three parties pushing the price quickly beyond $13 million. 

Auctioneer James Price sold the property at $18 million. 

Pre-auction expectations were above $10 million. 

Maroun Ajaka of Legion Cabs said the co-op "very pleased with the result which will no doubt benefit our members (shareholders)"

“There’s a lot of history, we’ve been there exactly 50 years. and the company has been around for 66 years.”

The property was exclusively marketed by Ray White director Dan White, Andrew Jolliffe of Ray White Hotels and Marcello Bo of Ray White Projects. 

“Under the new Sydney local environment plan (LEP), the site can be developed for a whole range of uses including a residential development, an educational institution or corporate headquarters. It could also be developed into a hotel or pub,” said Dan White. 

“It’s in a fantastic location, close to Central Station and the city. As we expected the site has attracted a lot of interest.”