Bermuda-based media veteran and billionaire Bruce Gordon has sold his WIN Grand development site in Wollongong to premium development company Level 33 for a record $70 million.

Gordon’s private company, Birketu, put the proposed $500 million project on the market in July, seeking an industry specialist to deliver what the group said had the potential “to reshape the city centre”.

Bordered by Crown, Keira, Burelli and Atchison streets, WIN Grand has development approval for a mixed-used project. The sale is the highest land value transaction for a development site in the Wollongong CBD.

Level 33 – a family-owned company specialising in premium multi-residential medium- to high-rise projects and master planned communities – will now deliver the project, adding to its extensive portfolio in the Wollongong region.

Gordon owns the WIN Television network and is also the largest shareholder of the Nine Entertainment Co., which owns this masthead, through his investment vehicle Birketu.

Wollongong is the largest NSW city south of Sydney and has emerged, after a tough few years, as a major technology hub with its large university and proximity to the state’s growing regional areas. The revitalisation of the city’s CBD is the next step in the rebuilding of the area.

‘Level 33 are experts at residential and mixed-use commercial development, and we are pleased they share our vision for the site.’

WIN chief executive Andrew Lancaster

Birketu and WIN chief executive Andrew Lancaster said more than 100 inquiries and 20 expressions of interest were received for the site from national and international companies, before Level 33 emerged as the successful candidate.

“Level 33 are experts at residential and mixed-use commercial development, and we are pleased they share our vision for the site,” Lancaster said.