It’s one everyone knows, the Griffiths Tea Building on Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills. At the end of last year the property changed hands for the first time in decades when it was sold by the Wakil family. The building which has lay derelict since the 1970’s has become an icon of the neighbourhood and a hotly awaited development pocket in the the burgeoning lower Surry Hills design precinct.

Michael Grant at Cornerstone Property Group is rubbing his hands together after the purchase of the building and a second key warehouse site on Kippax Street, also in Surry Hills. The Griffiths Tea building which was purchased for $22 million will be developed into NYC loft style apartments, while Kippax Street will become a 47-apartment complex with a project cost of $17 million.

The Griffiths Tea building in Surry Hills was recently sold to Cornerstone Property Group for $22m.
The building will be developed into high-end NYC style loft apartments. Image courtesy of mirrorsydney. Lead image courtesy of pastlivesofthenearfuture

“It’s almost 100 years old and it’s got a great volume of space – floor-to-ceiling heights, and the great heritage nature of the windows,” Grant said at the time he purchased the Griffith Team Building. With help from his trusty partners Halliday and SJB, Cornerstone has struck a winning formula for his high end developments such as he has done on Cleveland Street. The apartments in the new Griffiths Tea development could go for well over $2 mil each.

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