Triguboff’s Meriton Moves on $3bn Eastgardens

Billionaire developer Harry Triguboff has forged ahead with his Eastgardens development plans and snapped up a 2.7-hectare site in Sydney’s north-west in a counter-cyclical play.

Meriton has lodged a development application for the second stage of its sprawling $3 billion residential development in Eastgardens, approximately nine kilometres south of Sydney CBD, touted as Meriton's largest project to date.

The plans form stage two of a huge masterplan, which Meriton calls Pagewood Green, on the large site bounded by Bunnerong Road, Heffron Road, and Banks Avenue.

The second stage will see the construction of a $115 million mixed-use project comprising two residential buildings of up to 16 and 17 storeys in height comprising 383 residential units.

The SJB-designed project, lodged with Bayside council last week, also include ground-floor residential, retail and the construction of two private roads.

Making moves while others shy away from the market, Meriton was also revealed as the buyer of embattled developer Dyldam’s Pennant Hills site in Carlingford this week.

The 2.7-hectare site, at 263-273 and 277-281 Pennant Hills Road, roughly 18 kilometres to the north-west of Sydney’s CBD, was snapped up for $68.5 million, in a deal managed by Matthew Meynell and James Cowan of Colliers International.

Triguboff has recently said he was looking for sites in Sydney and Brisbane as a result of land prices dropping and developers relying on bank finance staying out of the market.

As for his Eastgardens development, the 87-year-old Meriton founder, who is personally worth about $15.5 billion, has described the Pagewood Green precinct as his “most ambitious project in 50 years as a developer”.

Meriton purchased 10.5 hectares of the site for $140 million in 2013, and an additional six hectares for $90 million two years later.

Bayside council unanimously voted to support the rezoning of the blocks along 128 and 130-150 Bunnerong Road, to high-density residential use in mid-2019.

When complete the mammoth precinct, which sits eight kilometres from Sydney CBD, will comprise more than 4000 units, spanning a 16.5-hectare site.