RAM’s $35m Office-to-Healthcare Bet Comes to Market in Inner West

A former government office building in Sydney’s Inner West transformed into a specialist healthcare hub by a $20-million overhaul has come to market. Real Asset Management is bringing its recently completed office-to-healthcare adaptive reuse at Burwood to market. A rare example of its genre of adaptive re-use, the project involved structural work and an additional $15 million on fitout and equipment for a radiology clinic on one floor. RAM head of office and diversified Mike Nguyen told The Urban Developer that the project “cost me a couple of grey hairs, but I think it’s worth it”. The seven-storey commercial tower at 8 Elsie Street, about 9.5km west of the Sydney CBD and about 200m from Burwood train station, was acquired in 2018 from Atlas Property Holdings for a reported $49 million. NSW Transport formerly tenanted the entire building, but vacated in 2024 with 18 months notice, giving the RAM team time to plan. Nguyen said that a WALE of 8.7 years reflected long lease tenures in healthcare, with the radiologist holding a 15-year lease with a 30-year option. ▲ Pivoting from offices to healthcare is challenging, but cheaper than a new-build hospital, Nguyen said. According to Nguyen, the complexity of the build was lower than class 9A day surgey facilities, but diagnostic imaging presented its own challenges. That tenant is “looking at doing multiple MRIs, multiple CTs, I think up to seven ultrasound machines and also x-ray machines in there,” Nguyen said. “The structural loading work just for the radiologist is very, very complicated, but there’s also the shielding [from radioactive imaging equipment], as well as power supply.” “[The tenant] basically said to me ‘Mate, I’m going to be here forever, because it’s too expensive for me to move anywhere else’.” Defensive and growth asset However, it’s the ground-floor Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, operated by tenant MyHealth, which may be the biggest drawcard for buyers, Nguyen said. The UCC program replaced hospital visits for urgent but non-emergency medical conditions, operating on a bulk-billing basis. The program is expanding, but a clinic that acquires the status is a naturally defensive property play, Nguyen told The Urban Developer . “There’s not a lot of them. [This] is the main urgent care clinic for the whole Inner West,” he said. “You’re probably going to start seeing more of these kinds of things pop up. But they’re not putting too many in one place.” ▲ The bottom three floors are to be sold in one line, with flexibility offered for the top four floors. Between the UCC, radiology clinic and other specialists, the hub expects 350,000 visitors annually. An aging population and a struggling real estate sector are also supportive of healthcare as both a defensive and a growth class, according to Nguyen. A prior round of bids has already attracted some potential offers, but Nguyen is hoping for more by pushing for a second. “For an asset like this, the interest would mostly come from domestic healthcare funds…your smaller family offices and also your private investors,” he said. ▲ Achieving UCC status means the clinic likely holds a unique position for the catchment, Nguyen said. “Between the mid-to-high $20-million is the right price level [for the bottom three floors].” While the top four floors are also available, Nguyen says RAM is expecting separate interest from owner-operator specialist clinicians for those suites. Meanwhile, NSW Auditor-General Bola Oyentunji issued a report on November 12 criticising the planning and delivery of public health infrastructure in the state. The state has committed $11.9-billion to healthcare infrastructure over the four-year forward period in the most recent budget, including a record $3.6 billion on hospital spending in FY26-27. However, the Auditor-General has found that infrastructure projects were not prioritised or co-ordinated well with one another, or with operational needs, by NSW Health.

RAM’s $35m Office-to-Healthcare Bet Comes to Market in Inner West

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