Local, Overseas Buyers Eye $130m Bonds Singlet Factory

The birthplace of Australian icon Chesty Bond, who became a superhero just by pulling on a white singlet, is going on the market in western Sydney for the first time in a decade.

Colliers said they were seeking $130 million for the 80,000sq m property, one of western Sydney’s biggest mixed-use development sites.

The site began life as the headquarters of Bonds Industries in 1923, when American George Bond established Australia’s first cotton spinning and weaving operation in Dunmore Street, Pendle Hill, and began making stockings. Chesty Bond, the trademark of the company and a cartoon character, was created about 15 years later.

Frank Oliveri of Colliers Sydney West sold the site in 2013 and he said the new owners rezoned for mixed-use residential, allowing up to 1500 dwellings.

“Basically, it has been leased as industrial warehousing and now it is a matter of taking advantage of the growth of the western Sydney market,” Oliveri said.

“And you won’t find too many sites in the market at the moment that are in a fully built-up area and are going to accommodate 1500 dwellings. It’s potentially the largest unit-development site to come up in the western Sydney market for many years.”

About 6000sq m of the existing structures have been heritage-listed, although Collier said they had been approved for retail development.

▲ Colliers says the 80,000sq m property can accommodate 1500 dwellings.

In September 2015, GML Heritage Pty Ltd produced a report saying the cotton bale room, the façade of the bobbin mill, the cutting room, and an administration building should all be heritage-listed. While most of the plant and equipment from Bonds’ former operation was sold or scrapped, GML reported a number of items were still on site, including industrial sewing and knitting machines.

“From its inception, the factory influenced the development of the neighbouring suburbs of Wentworthville and Pendle Hill, including the construction of Pendle Hill Railway Station and the expansion of residential and retail development to serve the large Bonds workforce,” the report said.

As part of the zoning plans, about 25,000sq m can be used as a public plaza and parks, and another 8000sq m for common space. Height limits across the property will range from 12.5m-39m.

Colliers’ Oliveri said about 40 groups had inquired about the listing.

“I think it will be competitive,” he said. “At the moment there is obviously a large range of local and institutional developers who do see the growth of western Sydney and there are a number of offshore groupings that are looking to recycle capital, so there is a good mix of purchasers currently reviewing the site.”