Luxury apartments are planned for David Jones in Sydney

The David Jones Market Street building in Sydney, which has long been the store’s menswear centre, is to be redeveloped with luxury apartments, offices and Westfield retailing.

Scentre Group, the operator of Westfield, and Cbus Property, a subsidiary of the industry super fund, have bought the CBD building for $360 million. Scentre’s share of the purchase price is $182.5 million and Cbus $177.5 million.

The department store will continue at the site, which includes the David Jones basement food hall, until late 2019 under a lease agreement. 

The new owners of David Jones, the South African-based Woolworths, are shedding property. In Sydney, the Elizabeth Street store, adjacent to Market Street, will be the flagship.

A redeveloped 77 Market Street will include 10,000 square metres of luxury retail space integrated with Westfield Sydney.

Cbus Property will convert the rest of the existing building to office space and a luxury residential tower overlooking Hyde Park.

“This transaction is a rare opportunity to significantly expand our flagship Westfield Sydney centre,” says Scentre CEO Peter Allen.