Merivale has bought a four-level freehold at 5-7 Barrack Street in Sydney’s CBD, adding another site opposite one of the company’s flagship hospitality precincts and extending its grip on the block between Barrack and George streets. The vacant building was offered for sale after last being occupied by the City of Tattersalls club, with the price speculated to be more than $15 million.
The site spans 342 square metres and carries 1229 square metres of building area. It is zoned SP5 Metropolitan Centre, and the property is understood to allow a 60 metre building with an 8:1 floor space ratio, making it a rare CBD parcel with strong redevelopment upside for a group that has spent years assembling a larger footprint around the precinct.
Colliers’ James Cowan and Jack McGregor handled the sale. The building is predominantly hospitality with offices, and it was historically occupied by the RSL before the City of Tattersalls club took it over. For Merivale, the purchase sits directly beside its proposed Kings Green hospitality precinct, a project that already shapes the immediate streetscape and now has another neighbour under company control.
Kings Green is being planned across several heritage buildings bounded by King, York, Clarence and Barrack streets. It incorporates a site bought for about $200 million in 2022, and the full precinct was approved by the City of Sydney. The plan covers 16,300 square metres and is set to include interconnected restaurants, bars, a sports bar, nightclub, boutique hotel, wellness facilities and premium office space.
The newest acquisition strengthens a consolidation play that has been building for years around Barrack and George streets. Kings Green is anchored by Merivale’s Hotel CBD at 75 York Street, which the company has held since 1995. By adding 5-7 Barrack Street, the group is tightening its control over the edges of a project that is already approved and that now has one more strategic piece in place.
That is the tension in the deal: the Barrack Street building was bought vacant, but its real value is unlikely to come from what stands there now. It lies in what Merivale can do with the site next, and in how much of the surrounding block the company can still pull into its orbit as Kings Green moves from plan to reality.
