Supporters of Sydney's Sirius building have warned potential buyers "there'll be trouble" if they plan on knocking down the harbourside brutalist building.
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The Sirius building - on the edge of Sydney harbour in The Rocks - is being sold by real estate company Savills Australia, who said it could fetch upwards of $120 million.
The company on Friday launched an international campaign to sell what it claims is the last freehold development opportunity in the harbourside precinct.
Savills NSW managing director Simon Fenn said Sirius represented a "unique opportunity" to buy a rare land parcel in "Sydney's tightest-held precinct".
But community group Save Our Sirius warned that the site had a green ban placed on it in the 1970s to stop the demolition of the area's historic buildings which could be imposed again.
Community groups in the 1970s allowed a lifting of the ban in return for the construction of a public housing block which then became the Sirius building.
SOS chairman Shaun Carter said anyone who bought the site and didn't protect it, would risk the green ban - imposed by community groups and the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining, and Energy Union - being enacted again.
"If you intend to buy the site and demolish the building, you will have trouble from the Green Ban and Save Our Sirius," Mr Carter said.
"We will picket line the site and disrupt any activity."
SOS, which will bid on the building, again called on the NSW government to stop the sale, list the brutalist block on the State Heritage Register and use it for key worker accommodation in the city.
The government is selling the site with plans to use the funds raised from the sale to invest in new social housing across NSW.
Who buys the site and what happens to it will depend on planning and zoning changes proposed by the NSW government which are under review.
Australian Associated Press
