The former offices of two of Australia’s longest-running music festivals has been sold for a pretty penny.
The spacious Sydney warehouse was formerly the offices for the Big Day Out and International Music Concepts (IMC), the team behind Homebake Festival, and has been sold for $5.7 million.
Situated at 8-10 Marlborough Street in Sydney’s Surry Hills, the former festival headquarters sold for just $10,000 less that the suburbs’ warehouse record price, according to Property Observer.
Images from inside the two-storey, 501 square metre property, showcased by real estate agents BresicWhitney, show off the trimmings of its former Big Day Out and IMC tenants.
Following on from Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah revealing the multi-million dollar costs of running his annual hard and heavy event, and pocketing $40,000 fraction of the turnover, you might believe the Warped/Big Day Out co-promoter’s claim that “most people would rather assume it’s all profit driven. Making tons of money, overpriced ticket[s], etc.”
But the lavish trimmings of the Big Day Out/IMC warehouse may have you thinking twice, including colourful interiors, music memorabilia, branded pinball machines and a table tennis, plus an expressive portrait of what looks to be Aussie crooner Kamahl.
(Images: BresicWhitney. Source: BresicWhitney)
Combined, the two-storey complex offers 986 square metres of space with seven main rooms, four bathrooms, five car spots, concrete floors, industrial stairwells, exposed beams, timber-clad ceilings, and original open roof trusses, according to the real estate listing.
BresicWhitney were marketing the Aussie music festival offices as an opportunity for “residential/commercial redevelopment given its B4 mixed use zoning,” according to Property Observer, and sold at the $5.7 million price tag to “an owner occupier who will operate a performance studio at the premises.” The property was last sold in 20o1 for $2 million, showing an 8.4% price growth per annum in value.
The Sydney warehouse was a veritable hub for Aussie music, as well as hosting the Big Day Out, Homebake promoters, and music company Love Police, and Peer Group Media – former publishers of The Music Network – among its tenants.
(Images: BresicWhitney. Source: BresicWhitney)
It is rumoured that Big Day Out promoter Ken West was the owner of the warehouse and the news of the sale interestingly follows rumours that the future of the long-running Aussie festival was in trouble after a Fairfax media article citing anonymous sources claimed the event was “tipped to lose up to $10 million, potentially making the event unsustainable in the future.”
The feature cited that costs involved with roping in Big Day Out 2014’s triple headliners Arcade Fire, Blur, and Pearl Jam, and the scrapping of the event’s second Sydney date due to poor ticket sales spelled out the festival’s dire situation amongst a climate of big name Aussie festivals going on a downturn, including the cancellation of Homebake, Harvest, and Pyramid Rock.
The article also refuted that Ken West was still a working entity at the festival following Soundwave’s AJ Maddah buying a stake in the festival brand in September, as “the logical choice” for the event’s future, in the words of West.
Following the report, Big Day Out CEO Adam Zammit lashed out at the Fairfax journalist and his editorial team for the article; “almost but not quite as many rumours bout further redundancies 4 bored journos at Fairfax!” said Zammit in a public spat on Twitter with Sydney Morning Herald music editor Peter Vincent and The Age writer Chris Johnston.
Zammit further spurned the writers for their unprofessionalism and holding a chip on their shoulder for missing out on previous festival coverage, while indicating among the war of words that booking of the Big Day Out 2014 lineup had begun, as well as a second round of bands for next year’s edition of the music festival.
As for who to expect to be added to the bill alongside the likes of Pearl Jam, Arcade Fire, Blur, Snoop Doog, Major Lazer, Tame Impala, and Flume, it’s highly likely that Brazilian indie outfit CSS – a refugee from AJ Maddah’s Harvest 2013 lineup following its cancellation – could end up on the bill. But the newly minted Big Day Out promoter has described the additional artist additions as a “supplementary announcement,” downplaying any extra headliner-sized acts.
(Images: BresicWhitney. Source: BresicWhitney)
