Media personality Ben Fordham makes foray into property development

An unlikely partnership between a construction manager and a media personality is behind a small-scale development for sale in Sydney’s Redfern.

19a Turner Street is a newly built project developed by Wells Street Property – a collaboration between Paramount Property Group founder Steve Fadel and Channel Nine and 2GB presenter, Ben Fordham.

Fadel and Fordham’s business relationship formed spontaneously in late 2013. At the time, Fordham was Fadel’s next-door neighbour and customer, having purchased into a Paramount Property development in Wells Street, Redfern.

“I loved his work because it’s all really bespoke design,” Fordham says.

“The floors of my home in Redfern were once ten-pin bowling alleys. Everything is made from recycled timber, custom-made steel and recycled bricks ­– I just fell in love with it.”

Almost a year later, Fordham was in a local cafe when he spotted Fadel on the phone looking concerned. After some prodding from Fordham, Fadel told him he didn’t have the funds to purchase a nearby block of land he had been eyeing for his next project.

Rather than offer his sympathies, Fordham told Fadel he would loan him the money to purchase the site.

“I said we’re mates, we’re next-door neighbours and neighbours help each other. I said I’ll buy it – ring the agent,” Fordham says.

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“[My wife] Jodie had the impression I’d just gone out to get a piccolo, and an hour later we owned a block of land.”

Fadel’s wife suggested they formalise the arrangement and Wells Street Property was born.

“It was one of these accidental acts of neighbourly friendship that turned into something really quite interesting for both of us,” Fordham says.

“It’s a really great partnership because Steve, as a lot of builders will know, doesn’t always have the available cash as this is tied up in projects, and I don’t have my finger on the pulse to the degree that Steve does.”

19 Turner Street is Wells Street Property’s first project, consisting of two almost identical homes. 19b sold off the plan about 18 months ago for $2.65 million, while 19a will be auctioned by Bresic Whitney on December 2.

The three bedroom, three-bathroom property features an industrial warehouse aesthetic integrating milled Oregon timber from a demolished Zetland hospital, a front door fashioned from a decommissioned Sydney Ferry, and a steel wall pattern representative of a historic Redfern street map.

While not planned, Fordham says his foray into property development is a somewhat “natural progression” of his decades investing in real estate.

“Outside of my media roles I’ve had a lifelong interest in real estate and property,” he says.

“I started buying property as soon as I started working … I really get into it and I really enjoy it.”

Since completing Turner Street, Wells Street Property has gone on to acquire sites for two further projects – a former mechanics workshop in Alexandria for 17 apartments and a motel in Strathfield approved for 65 units.

“Ben and I have a fantastic working relationship. We now have three developments together and it’s likely to be a long relationship,” Fadel says.

Fadel’s passion for integrating recycled materials and one-of-a-kind features will continue throughout Wells Street Property’s future projects.

Many of these elements will be manufactured locally by Paramount Property’s new branch, Architecture Factory – a bespoke design and fabrication factory based in Waterloo.

“We started organically as we found it hard to find people to make the design features we wanted in our developments, using steel and recycled timber and all sorts of other demolition materials we come across,” says Paramount Property architectural design manager Jo van de Ven.

19a Turner Street, Redfern will be auctioned on-site at 11.15am, Saturday December 2 and has a price guide of $2.4 million.