Ray White Double Bay splashes $7m for new corner site
With business up 50% on last year, Ray White Double Bay is to get a new home following the purchase of a prominent corner position in the village for circa $7m.
Principal Elliott Placks has this week finalised an off-market deal on a commercial building at 357 New South Head Road, on the corner of Manning Road, via Zorick Toltsan of Metro Commercial.
Placks said the two-level building, owned by the Chin development family, is “an investment in the future”.
“We are up 50 per cent on the same time last year as far as transactions are concerned, so with that growth and opportunity it’s time to plan for the next 10 years not the next 12 months, ”Placks said.
The sales over the 90 days included wealth planner Phil Hakim’s home in New South Head Road, Rose Bay for about $10m; the Weroona Avenue, Woollahra residence of Morgan Stanley executive director Louise Mylott and Goldman Sachs executive director for real estate Ian Randall for $5.7m; and the Carlotta Road, Bellevue Hill home of architect Greg Crone for $6,625,000.
“It’s going to be a five-level building which will house the residential arm and the property management arm and the finance business and we will run our auctions in rooms there as well.
“We’ve got 55 staff and there’s a couple more on the way so all three businesses are expanding.”
Explaining the growth in business during the pandemic, Placks said: “We’ve had close to $300m in sales from the first quarter of 2020.
“I was surprised … I was predicting the next 12 months as status quo or a grind, but having July as a transaction month instead of people going away overseas has improved the quarter.
The site of the new Ray White Double Bay headquarters will include retail and a cafe on the ground floor with four levels of office space above. Placks has commissioned architect Bruce Stafford for the exterior with the interiors to be done by Jonathan Richards of Richards Stanisich.
“I’m impressed with both architects and I couldn’t choose between the two of them so I’ve got them to collaborate,” he said.
“We’re going to create an architectural building that will be a great entry into Double Bay and it’s one of just seven corners in the village.
“So when this became available it was a must-have.”
The existing office at 356 New South Head Road is a rented space. Placks expects to move into the newly built premises in about 18 months.
This article from the Wentworth Courier originally appeared as “Ray White Double Bay to get new home with $7m purchase of corner site”.
