A HUNTER Valley icon is back on the market, with the former Oak factory at Muswellbrook listed for sale with a price guide of $10 million.
"$10 million is where the interest is hovering at the moment," said Sydney-based Savills listing agent Selin Ince said
"There has been a range of interest but it is quite a niche asset so it's going to require someone who knows what they want to do with the asset, so winemakers and various other opportunistic purchasers because it's a lot of building.
"It has just shy of 5,000 square metres of internal space to work with."
The 22-acre site has been a part of the town's landscape since the Hunter Valley Co-operative Dairy Company started the eight-year construction of the factory in 1945.
Such is its historical significance that the exterior of the building and the OAK signage are both heritage-listed, according to the agent.
The agent said the factory had all the infrastructure to manufacture all spirits and wine, with a maximum daily capacity for 25,000 litres of spirits, and could be easily adapted to produce other beverages.
"The buyer could operate to make wine, any spirits and, obviously, milk," she said.
The factory includes two bottling lines, an evaporation and refrigeration plant, a water treatment plant and a gas boiler There is also a warehouse, an industrial shed and four residential dwellings on the site.
With light industrial zoning, as well as general residential and recreational use, the agent said the holding and existing improvements offer potential for numerous income streams.
The factory produced a range of products from the facility until it closed in 1994.
OAK was bought out by global food and dairy corporation Parmalat in 2009 who retained ownership until it was purchased by French company Lactalis in 2019 after which the factory changed over to a wine and spirits distillery.
The contract winemaking company that operated on the site, Hunter Wine Services, was placed into liquidation in May 2019.
