EG Funds Management Buys in Brunswick East, Apartments Expected
Sources say the fund manager and advisory group will pay about $8.7 million for a one hectare development site on Brunswick Road, near the Carlton North and Fitzroy North suburb border.
A spokesman for EG Funds Management declined to comment on the deal when contacted by BusinessDay. It’s believed the industrial site was offloaded by an owner occupier with vacant possession, in a deal to settle next April.
The purchase would be the second in Melbourne for EG Funds Management recently.
Earlier this month it was reported the boutique fund manager acquired an 8,161 square metre development site at the corner of Canterbury Road and Gascoyne Street Canterbury. The price of $12.525 million, or $1,535 per square metre was considered very low for the area.
It’s believed the development is for one of its wholesale property funds, and that up to 8,500 square metres of warehouses on the site, may be retained as part of a high-end, medium density residential redevelopment.
It’s expected EG Funds Management will try to lease the property to an industrial tenant, while it applies for a rezoning to residential use.
Nearby, the Tip Top Bakery site in Weston Street, once owned by property spruiker Henry Kaye, is also being redeveloped into a residential development.
It’s expected many Brunswick industrial properties along Sydney Road, and train stations along the Epping line, will be redeveloped into residential use over coming years.
Major redevelopment is also set to start in Coburg, the next suburb north of Brunswick.
Developer Equiset recently won a $1 billion Moreland Council tender to transform sites around the Sydney Road and Bell Street intersection into a mixed use project. About 20 per cent of 1500 apartments to be developed in the area will be reserved for affordable housing.
