[Please Note: This article relates to the land sale, NOT the businesses. The Reptile Park has a long-term lease on the land and is NOT affected by this sale]
The 120-hectare land holding at 945 Old Pacific Highway, Somersby, which includes the Australian Reptile Park and the former Old Sydney Town theme park, is being offered to the market for the first time in history.
Perth-based CBRE has been chosen to market the site for sale, which it said, represents a significant land bank opportunity on the NSW Central Coast. CBRE’s Peter Vines, Ben Byford, Victor Sheu and Peter Mangraviti have been appointed to take responsibility for promoting the land for sale. It is located 8km from Gosford and 77km north of Sydney. The property comprises five adjoining parcels, including the Australian Reptile Park, across 54,000 square metres, and Old Sydney Town on 250,000 square metres.
The remaining 890,000 square metres wraps around both sites and is utilised as a primary production farm. Established in 1948, and operating from the Somersby site since 1996, the Australian Reptile Park is regarded as one of Australia’s most popular animal parks, renowned for its large variety of wildlife. The Old Sydney Townsite was home to the popular theme and open-air museum, which was opened by former Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, on Australia Day, 1975. “Since closing in 2003, the heritage replicated buildings onsite have been used as an open function event destination and hired privately as movie sets,” CBRE said. CBRE’s Peter Vines said the opportunity to acquire such a substantial footprint in one of NSW’s strongest growing regions would attract widespread buyer interest from both local and offshore groups.
“Located at the gateway to the Central Coast, the coastal city of Gosford, this site offers an unprecedented landbank opportunity to secure more than one million square metres of premium land,” Mr Vines said. “Given its vast size, direct proximity to the Somersby industrial area and future rezone potential, this site could be later developed for a range of outcomes such as rural activities, theme parks, tourism development and residential subdivision.” The Central Coast is the third largest urban area in NSW after Sydney and Newcastle, providing accessibility to the state’s esteemed beaches and coastal lifestyle as well as the Sydney metropolitan region via transport links, the CBRE media release said. The property is being offered for sale via Expressions of Interest closing March 15.
Source: Media release, Feb 6 Natasha Pierson, CBRE