Sam Crawford-designed Annandale warehouse conversion attracts big weekend auction crowd

Sam Crawford-designed Annandale warehouse conversion attracts big weekend auction crowd
Jonathan ChancellorMarch 17, 2019

There was keen bidding when a $4.18 million warehouse conversion sale was secured in Sydney's inner west at weekend auction.

The former automative workshop at Annandale (above and below) attracted five bidders, narrowly falling short of the suburb record. 

Bidding on the 274-square-metre property at 22 Nelson Street started at $3.7 million.

It sold to a young couple from Glebe who paid $80,000 above reserve through Chris Nunn and Nick Playfair from BresicWhitney.

They had shown about 250 groups through the property during the marketing campaign.

The Sam Crawford Architects-designed conversion won the 2016 MBA NSW winner for adaptive reuse.

"A remarkable change from an empty warehouse to a great living environment with lots of natural light throughout," the judging panel noted.

"Lowering the floor to obtain two storeys and including garages made the whole project come together.

"The mixture of recycled materials and new works well."

Filtered sunlight comes in from all angles of the home which offers 420 sqm of indoor and outdoor living space, including an open air courtyard with sawtooth beams above.

There's a second breakout living area on the mezzanine level, where there's also a king corner master suite with walk in wardrobe and dual ensuite.

The ground level features a home office with full bar and a wine cellar.

The last warehouse sale in the Sydney suburb was when The Block executive producer Julian Cress secured a record $4,275,000 through McGrath agent Damien West. Cress inherited the Johnstone Lane warehouse from his late father, the Archibald award-winning artist Fred Cress.

The four-bedroom weekend offering home came after the warehouse space was bought in 2013 by builder Joe Sidoti, director of developers SQ Projects, and wife Natalie for $1,525,000.

Sydney's top reported sale was at Woolwich.

The four bedroom house at 5 Margaret Street (below) fetched $4.3 million through BresicWhitney who had suggested a $4 million buyers' guide.

It had last sold at $1.85 million in 2003.

A blank space offering was on offer nearby at Hunters Hill when a lawn tennis court (below) sold at weekend auction for $3.55 million, some $250,000 above reserve.

It fetched well above the $2.8 million it sold for in 2016.

The 900 sqm holding came with plans approved for a five-bedroom house.

The bidding started at $2.9 million with two young families seeking the building opportunity at 31 Woolwich Road, Hunters Hill.

The grass tennis court was once part of the 1893 house next door.

Sydney’s weekend auction clearance rate rose to 56.7 per cent from 294 reported results of 540 scheduled auctions.

Click here to enlarge.

The result was up on the 54.6 per cent preliminary clearance rate reported last weekend, which was after late results revised down to 48.2 per cent by Domain.

Melbourne's top result was 22 Gore Street, Fitzroy (below) which fetched $2.7 million after auction where it was passed in at $2.62 million.

The corner terrace had been listed with $2.5 million to $2.75 million price hopes through Nelson Alexander.

The two bedroom 1860s terrace, on the corner of Little Victoria Street, had last traded in 2013 at $1,476,000.

The Domain Group reported an auction clearance rate of 54.8 per cent from 526 reported auctions of 744 scheduled auctions.

Former North Melbourne footballer Lindsay Thomas and wife Hannah didn't sell their Gowanbrae house which The Herald Sun reported passed in on a single $680,000 vendor bid. 

It now has a $735,000 asking price through AlexKarbon agent Charles Bongiovanni.

The three-bedroom house, about 16kms north of the Kangaroo's training base, was bought in 2009 for $455,000 by the couple who have moved back to Adelaide after Thomas signed with Port Adelaide. 

Melbourne was the weekend's busiest capital, and had the second best clearance rate behind Sydney.

The REIV reported several Victorian suburbs and towns have recorded 100 per cent clearance rates so far in 2019 with six sales under the hammer in Warrnambool, three in Williams Landing and two in Clyde North.

The cheapest sale across the capital cities was in Melbourne at $270,000, but the price had fallen slightly since its last sale.

The 1/16 Newlyn Street, Caulfield offering sold through Gary Peer who'd had a $250,000 to $275,000 price guidance.

The ground floor one bedroom unit had last sold at $271,000 in 2012.

There was a 36 percent sales success at Brisbane auctions from its 75 listings.

Canberra saw a 46 percent success rate from 64 listings.

There was a 50 percent success rate of the 70 listings in Adelaide.

 

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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