Old Sydney Town land finally sold
DREAMS of resurrecting the State’s most nostalgic tourist theme park appear to be over once and for all after a buyer signed the final contracts on the multi million-dollar land deal.
Central Coast
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- What Old Sydney Town Looks like now
- Former owner says park could be rebuilt
- Council says no to Tony Denny’s $10m offer to buy OST
LESS than a year since the owner of the former Old Sydney Town site said he would rebuild the 1980s theme park, the site has been sold.
It’s understood the buyer is a Chinese family who paid between $15 and $20 million for the 120 hectare property but has no plans to redevelop the site as a theme park.
Selling agents CBRE said contracts for the sale were completed at the end of last week but said it has signed a confidentiality agreement and could not confirm the buyer or the selling price.
The fate of Old Sydney Town returned to the headlines in October 2017 when Central Coast drone operator Mitchell Hubbard shot footage and pictures of the crumbling park which had over six million visitors during its life.
The images showed buildings slowly falling apart and rooves caved in. The replica tall ship Perseverance had sunk and weeds were growing on its decks. From above, the park resembled an 1800s ghost town.
A week later site owner and international hotel entrepreneur Richard Chiu said he would rebuild Old Sydney Town if Central Coast Council rezoned some of the surrounding land for residential and commercial development to make the venture viable.
The Old Sydney Town site was just 10 per cent of the total land holding with the surrounding area zoned for rural activities.
However, there was never any serious formal proposal to the council to rezone the land and by February this year Mr Chiu had put the land up for sale through a Sydney based real estate company.
During the three month campaign to sell the land, a variety of possible buyers came forward, including millionaire Central Coast businessman Tony Denny who made a failed bid to join forces with Central Coast Council to buy the land. His vision was for a smaller version of Old Sydney Town with a wave park next to it into which he was prepared to put $10 million of his own money if Council backed the plan.
The sons of Old Sydney Town founder Frank Fox — Peter and Michael — had also formed a bid group which included the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council with the aim of re-establishing a unique historic and cultural theme park on the site. This too failed when they could not raise enough to win the sale.
The fate of the land which has stood empty since Old Sydney Town closed in 2003 is not known.
TIMELINE
■ The park was opened in 1975 by Gough Whitlam. It was developed by architect Frank Fox with the help of the Federal Government and the Bank of NSW.
■ The project faithfully recreated the pre-Governor Macquarie period with buildings constructed using traditional methods and featuring authentic costumes, furnishings, foods and activities from that period. Its overall control was initially in the hands of Mr Fox and the Bank of NSW.
■ The Wran state government took over the federal investment shortly after the Fraser government took power at the end of 1975.
■ The Park was leased to private company, Warwick Amusements (owned by Richard Chiu) who under the terms of the lease eventually purchased it from the State Government and later took a decision to close in 2003.
■ During its lifetime, the park had 6 million visitors.
■ In the early hours of 20 February 2014, fire claimed Heritage Hall the entrance and reception complex — and a significant part of the artefacts and documentation stored there were lost.
■ The site was sold to an undisclosed buyer at the end of May 2018.