Elanor Offloads Permit-Approved Merrylands Site for $36m

Listed real estate investment manager Elanor Investors Group is selling one of its major Sydney assets, in Merrylands, with permit approval for 540 apartments and 7500sq m of retail space.

Elanor won approval for the mixed-use development at 248-264 Woodville Road in 2015, a year after picking up the western Sydney asset. The asset, site of the John Cootes furniture head office, is valued at $18 million in Elanor’s accounts.

Elanor exchanged unconditional contracts with an unnamed buyer for the sale of the Woodville Road property for $36 million. The asset’s current book value is $18 million.

The sale comes as the boutique fund pushed past the $1 billion market in assets, after acquiring buildings in Canberra and Adelaide earlier this month. The group set up a new managed fund to buy the Belconnen Markets in the ACT for $43.75 million and its main unlisted office fund acquired the Campus DXC complex in Adelaide’s Felixstow for $35 million.

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Elanor chief executive Glenn Willis said the sale allows the group the opportunity to recycle capital and “execute on our funds management growth strategies.”

“With a book value of approximately $18 million, this transaction realises a strong capital uplift for the Group,” Willis said.

The transaction is contracted to settle in August.