Lee family chases top dollar for sentimental Sydney property

Electric goods chain Bing Lee is famed for its bargains but is chasing a record price in a hot part of Sydney’s industrial market.

A Bing Lee property at 702 Woodville Road, Old Guildford, in Sydney is up for sale for $85m

Family-owned electrical goods chain Bing Lee is cashing in on the commercial property boom by moving to sell off its flagship site in the Sydney suburb of Old Guildford for about $85m.

The company put the Bing Lee electrics Sydney distribution centre on the market as buyers chase holdings in western suburbs that spin off secure income streams. The chain is offering the property, which also serves as its NSW headquarters, via a sale and leaseback structure that gives buyers long-term exposure to the facility, which is also used for retail sales. The site carries sentimental value as the nearby suburb of ­Fairfield is where the business began back in 1957.

The Bing Lee chain, named for family matriarch Yenda Lee’s late father-in-law Bing Lee, is the bedrock of the family’s $720m wealth, according to The List. He founded the business after trading his fruit shop for an electrical retail store in the mid-1950s. Bing and son Ken Lee ran the business, which is now in the hands of Yenda’s son, Lionel.

Bing Lee chair Yenda Lee.

The Old Guildford site is one of the Lee family’s extensive property holdings in Sydney. It houses a combined industrial and large-format retail facility that has been home to Bing Lee since 2008. It is being sold with a secure leaseback to the chain as it wants to keep its foothold in the tightly held market. The 16,743sq m facility is on a large 27,603sq m corner site at 702 Woodville Road in a mixed-use precinct that includes Officeworks and Sonic HealthPlus.

Colliers agents Gavin Bishop, Sean Thomson, Michael Crombie, Trent Gallagher and Harrison Jones are handing the sale.

“Finding a property of this calibre with a secure leaseback to one of Australia’s largest privately owned electronics retailers is incredibly rare, with competition expected to be fierce given the major landholding in a strategic central west Sydney location,” Mr Bishop said.

“With exceptional exposure and connectivity to Woodville Road, the Hume Motorway, Fairfield Street and surrounding commercial, industrial and residential catchments, 702 Woodville Road offers strategic positioning that ensures strong future appeal for both investors and occupiers alike,” said Mr Thomson.

The site has 40,000 vehicles pass it daily and is prominently positioned in a precinct with industrial, retail, employment and living assets.