Heckelmann's Brisbane building sold to Nick Politis

Sydney businessman Nick Politis has bought the historic Heckelmann's Building in the heart of Brisbane's CBD for $15.5 million.  

The building, at 171 Elizabeth Street opposite the Hilton Hotel, was sold through Knight Frank, according to the Australian Financial Review.

"Our formal marketing campaign for 171 Elizabeth Street resulted in a large number of offers from private investors and developers; mostly from interstate investors who have been priced out of the Sydney and Melbourne CBD markets," Knight Frank senior director for institutional sales Justin Bond said.

Mr Politis,whose wealth is estimated by the BRW Rich List at $594 million, invests in real estate across the country.

Heckelmann's Building is a heritage-listed building designed by Andrea Giovanni Stombuco and built from 1884 to 1891. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992.

Joseph Heckelmann, a tinsmith by trade, died in 1925. In 1951 the building was purchased by the Commercial Bank of Australia for £50,000, subdivided in 1963 and two years later one half of the building was bought by Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver, noted Australian tennis champions. Kern Corporation subsequently became the owner of the entire building.

It last sold at $2.4 million in 1991.