Galileo in pole position for $1bn One Circular Quay as Chinese head for the exits

The massive Sydney CBD project on the former Gold Fields House site, once owned by billionaire developer Huang Xiangmo, looks set to return to Australian hands.

The Gold Field House site was once owned by Huang Xiangmo.

Sydney Harbour’s luxury One Circular Quay could be headed back into Australian hands with a development company headed by Black Caviar part-owner Neil Werrett in the box seat to buy it after years of controversy and delays.

The Australian developer, likely backed by superannuation fund partners, is undertaking due diligence ahead of a potential purchase of the harbourfront site for close to $1bn amid expectations that the much anticipated super-luxury apartment and hotel project will finally launch this year.

The One Circular Quay project will consist of stunning twin towers on the former Gold Fields House site in Sydney’s Circular Quay.

The tallest building, designed by the late award-winning Singapore-based architect Kerry Hill, is a 58-level tower which attracted more than $1bn worth of pre-sales when its marketing agents CBRE fielded expressions of interest back in 2018.

Beside it will be a Waldorf Astoria hotel, with Hilton last month confirming it would open the five star edifice in Sydney. Building has also kicked off on the 28-floor, 220-key luxury hotel, which is expected to open in early 2025.

The property was once controlled by now exiled Chinese political donor and billionaire Huang Xiangmo via his Yuhu operation. He exited as another Chinese developer, AWH Investment Group, took over in 2019.

Mr Huang’s companies in 2018 had outlaid more than $1bn to buy the massive Sydney site and another project on the Gold Coast from an arm of troubled Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group. Mr Huang is now banned from entering Australia.

The latest sale would represent the biggest exit by the Chinese groups that surged into the local market during the last property boom but who have since had their dreams of becoming a new force in Australian real estate shattered.

They have faced a toxic mix of worsening political relations, a tough climate for selling to foreign buyers and China’s repeated crackdowns on capital going offshore for luxury projects.

Some big Chinese property companies have also been pressured to return their capital home rather than investing in new projects in Australia.

But Galileo is now well positioned to pick the project up after the Shenzhen-based owners of AWH again quietly tested interest in the site which property players said could sell for about $980m.

CBRE Residential Projects chairman Justin Brown is brokering the deal but has refused to comment to The Weekend Australian, as did the developer.

Galileo is a deeply experienced Australian property house, headed by veteran developer Mr Werrett, who held senior roles at AMP Capital during its heyday, when it owned the Gold Fields House property on which the ultra-luxury project is planned.

Mr Werrett is also a significant figure in racing and owned a 50 per cent stake in famed mare Black Caviar. Black Caviar racked up 25 straight wins and Mr Werrett horses have also won a string of other top races.

Mr Werrett has quietly set up a company called Galileo Boomerang, prompting expectations that he would be bringing the Circular Quay property back into both his own orbit and local hands.

Gold Fields House has been demolished and the new towers will be one of the country‘s most opulent residential and hotel buildings.