Hyde Park apartment raises $14m

A PENTHOUSE overlooking Hyde Park has been sold for about $14 million, falling short of its desired $20 million, but the highest Sydney apartment sale for three years.

The top two floors of the recently completed 35-storey Liverpool Street redevelopment The Hyde includes 570 sq m of interior space, along with a 15-metre wet-edge lap pool with 400 sq m of rooftop decking.

It comes with views across Hyde Park towards the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and the Heads. There is a gym, steam room, bar, a caterers’ scullery and a large lounge area with fireplace.

It was initially marketed off the plan with hopes of more than $20 million, but its developer, Stockland, appreciated the luxury apartment market had tightened considerably since its listing in late 2009.

The market was not helped when the sale of two record-setting off-the-plan penthouses failed to proceed during the global financial crisis.

The Hyde Park precinct now ranks among Sydney’s priciest addresses. It also snared the top off-the-plan apartment sale of the past year when just short of $14 million was paid for a sub-penthouse in the College Street development, The Residence.

Singapore-based architects WOHA designed the exteriors of The Hyde, with the Sydney-based interior architects Archer+Wright designed the penthouse’s interiors.

Sydney’s priciest apartment sale stands at $16.8 million in 2008 for a 12th-floor unit in the Bennelong block overlooking Circular Quay.