Billionaire Bruce Gordon gets a record $70m for Wollongong development site

Bermuda-based media veteran and billionaire Bruce Gordon has sold his WIN Grand development site in Wollongong to premium development company Level 33 for a record $70 million.

Gordon’s private company, Birketu, put the proposed $500 million project on the market in July, seeking an industry specialist to deliver what the group said had the potential “to reshape the city centre”.

Bruce Gordon has sold the site of the proposed WIN Grand development in Wollongong for $70 million.Credit: Fairfax Media

Bordered by Crown, Keira, Burelli and Atchison streets, WIN Grand has development approval for a mixed-used project. The sale is the highest land value transaction for a development site in the Wollongong CBD.

Level 33 – a family-owned company specialising in premium multi-residential medium- to high-rise projects and master planned communities – will now deliver the project, adding to its extensive portfolio in the Wollongong region.

Gordon owns the WIN Television network and is also the largest shareholder of the Nine Entertainment Co., which owns this masthead, through his investment vehicle Birketu.

Wollongong is the largest NSW city south of Sydney and has emerged, after a tough few years, as a major technology hub with its large university and proximity to the state’s growing regional areas. The revitalisation of the city’s CBD is the next step in the rebuilding of the area.

‘Level 33 are experts at residential and mixed-use commercial development, and we are pleased they share our vision for the site.’

WIN chief executive Andrew Lancaster

Birketu and WIN chief executive Andrew Lancaster said more than 100 inquiries and 20 expressions of interest were received for the site from national and international companies, before Level 33 emerged as the successful candidate.

“Level 33 are experts at residential and mixed-use commercial development, and we are pleased they share our vision for the site,” Lancaster said.

While WIN Corporation no longer owns the site, Lancaster said the group would remain committed to the development project and continue investing back into the site.

“We will take a large part of the commercial aspect of the site when it is completed. Level 33 has a proven track record in both Wollongong and Sydney, and we are confident they have the capability to fulfil the vision for this site,” Lancaster said.

Level 33 director Eddy Haddad said WIN Grand “is an amazing opportunity to deliver a project of major significance to the city”.

“This is a strategic acquisition which will be a one-of-a-kind to deliver, and something that has the capability to truly define the Wollongong CBD as a place to live and work,” Haddad said.

Level 33 jointly has 3200 homes in the pipeline in the Illawarra region, and more than 5000 in its broader portfolio, to deliver over the next five years.

The deal was brokered by Simon Kersten and Taleah Thomas, from Colliers Wollongong.

Kersten said the significance of the site required a specialist to deliver the landmark project and “realise the incredible vision that Mr Gordon has for the city”.

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