Merrylands 'super lot' that includes the original John Cootes Furniture store has sold for $36 million
An amalgamated site in Sydney’s Merrylands, which the original John Cootes Furniture head office is part of, has sold for $36 million and is expected to yield more than 500 homes.
The 2.6-hectare land parcel, which includes the furniture retailer’s first building and 10 other residential and commercial properties, exchanged on June 6 and has triple-street frontage between 75 and 150 metres on Woodville Road, Lansdowne Street and Highland Street.
News of the sale comes as the vendor, listed property investment manager Elanor Investors Group, secured “gateway determination” to rezone the block for B4 mixed-use development, with height limits up to 31 metres (or nine storeys), as well as increasing the maximum floor space ratio to 2:1.
A central park, retail and commercial spaces will be part of the future redevelopment. Image: Supplied
The masterplan includes more than 52,000 square metres of gross floor area, including 500 apartments across four complexes between three to nine levels high, and 11 three-bedroom terraces. A maximum of 535 homes can be built on the site.
Retail and commercial tenancies, including a supermarket, will account for 7500 square metres of space.
The adjoining residential properties at 244 Woodville Road, and at 6, 10 and 12 Lansdowne Street, have also been rezoned with the same planning controls as the amalgamated block.
The Woodville Road frontage stretches 150 metres. Image: Supplied
The buyer is a “well-established” western Sydney developer, Savills selling agent Stuart Cox told Commercial Real Estate.
“I would expect that they’ll immediately be getting a development application for starters, which is still going to take a number of months, so construction won’t start immediately,” said Mr Cox, who sold it along with his colleague Neil Cooke, and CBRE agents Frank Oliveri and Peter Vines.
“They (Elanor) purchased it for a competitive price, and they sought the upside in getting the rezoning on the property and that’s maximising the development potential, so there’s still a very handsome profit in it for them going through that process.”
Elanor’s chief executive officer Glenn Willis said the planning approvals would provide “significant public benefits and much-needed amenity to the local community”.
“With a book value of approximately $18 million, this transaction realises a strong capital uplift for the group, providing further opportunity to recycle capital and execute on our funds management growth strategies.”
The new owners are expected to lodge a DA soon. Image: Supplied
Elanor acquired the entire John Cootes business in July 2014, which included the buildings and real estate, and subsequently bought the other residential and commercial properties surrounding the Merrylands outlet on Woodville Road.
While it is not known how much the group paid for the furniture business, the entire amalgamated property at Merrylands was valued at $12.1 million in 2014, Elanor’s financial result documents showed.
John Cootes Furniture, which still operates on the property, holds the lease at 258 Woodville Road until June 2024 with a five-year option, contributing to a total net income of $521,000 a year on the entire site.
That property was sold with a demolition clause in place with a minimum of six months needed for termination of the lease.
The transaction is contracted to settle on August 2, 2018.
