Bunnings North Parramatta relocates to old Masters site in Northmead
BUNNINGS North Parramatta has picked up its hammer and nails and is building a new home. But what will become of its existing site? There have been whispers it’ll be transformed into high-rise residential.
Parramatta
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BUNNINGS North Parramatta is on the move. The hardware store located on the corner of Church St and North Rocks Rd, where there’s always a bottleneck of traffic regardless of the time of day, will relocate to the former Masters site in Northmead.
There is no word from Bunnings head office on the future of its North Parramatta site once the relocation is complete but there are whispers in the community it’ll be transformed into residential living.
It’s understood $4 million will be spent on the new Redbank Rd warehouse so it is fit for all team members to transfer to the “bigger and better store”.
The new store is expected to be open in late 2018. When Masters operated out of it there was 12,500 sqm of floorspace and more than 350 parking spaces.
Bunnings property general manager Andrew Marks said conversion and reformatting works were already underway at the new store, which will replace the current North Parramatta store.
“We have been a part of the North Parramatta community for 18 years and, we look forward to continuing to provide the local community with an even wider range of home improvement products, backed up by the best service,” he said.
The failed hardware chain Masters announced a massive fire sale to offload goods mid-2016. The Northmead store has remained dormant since despite more than 77,000 cars passing on the nearby Cumberland Highway each day. Things are about to get even busier for this little part of Sydney’s west, with the site next door now on the market.
KFC, McDonald’s, Pancakes on the Rocks, a Thai restaurant, Shell service station and Coles convenience store will individually go under the hammer later this month.
The properties combined which have been owned by the same family for 20 years, have a net income in excess of $1.3 million.
Listing agents, Burgess Rawson’s Michael Gilbert and Rhys Parker, said the property was being sold on behalf of the owner, who recently died.
“Fast food outlets are probably the most sought-after asset class in real estate right now … people always want to enjoy different dining experiences,” Mr Gilbert said.
The KFC is set on a corner 2155 sqm lot and brings in an annual net income of more than $228,000.
Each of the four businesses have leases in place until at least 2022, with options to extend.
The McDonald’s site spans 3293 sqm and has a net income of $732,346. It will be Sydney’s first to sell in five years. The last to be snapped up was in Prestons, in Liverpool, and it went for $6.45 million.
The agents said they expected this to “set a new benchmark” for the city.
Only 48 hours after the commercial property went live on realestate.com.au, it had been viewed more than 12,000 times.
“We are getting significant interest from Asian investors; With this sort of a premium grade asset they know what they are looking for — and they have the cash to buy it,” he said.
The Briens Rd site, along the Cumberland Highway, will go under the hammer on Tuesday, July 31 at Doltone House.
SITE HISTORY
● The existing North Parramatta Bunnings site was built as a flour mill by John Raine in 1826 and was then occupied by Sydney Woollen Mills.
● There were seven woollen mills in the state and, by 1841, most people were dressed in tweeds made at Parramatta.
● The output of cloth reached 235,000 yards a year in the 1850s.
● It was that good they started producing a tweed called “Parramatta cloth”.