Near new Melbourne hotel sold, set for rebrand

Amber Property Group bought the Ringwood site – then car yards – in 2017.

The Brady family’s Amber Property Group has sold the three year old Sebel Melbourne Ringwood which will now be transformed to a Rydges.

The Maroondah Highway asset contains 103 suites over seven floors.

The deal with hospitality focused fund manager Serene Capital, is speculated to be worth about $30 million.

Rated 4-star, the seven storey asset contains 103 suites, a conference and event space, gym and restaurant and bar, trading as Orchard

The 2663 square metre site has 53 metres of Maroondah Highway frontage.

It also contains a large car park accessed off Wantirna Road.

JLL’s Nick MacFie and Peter Harper with Stonebridge’s Rorey James, Justin Dowers and Kevin Tong were the agents.

Rydges Ringwood

Amber paid $5.775m for the Ringwood site, 96-98 Maroondah Hwy, in early 2017; at the time it was a row of car yards.

Accor pre-committed to it and another Amber venue, in Bridge Rd, Richmond, about two years later.

It was listed for sale last year with an optional continued franchise agreement (story continues below).

The 4-star Ringwood hotel opened in 2021.

Serene instead wanted it vacant.

The 13th asset for its Serene Capital Hotel Fund No 1 (SCHF1), it will now be rebranded Rydges Ringwood, operated by EVT Hotels.

Amber Property Group’s chief executive officer, Rachael Brady, said the group was pleased to be selling to an experienced operator “who we know will do a fantastic job in harnessing the potential and really driving growth”.

Another SCHF1 hotel planned

Serene will now undertake a capital raising for the property – and one other – closing September 30.

Chief executive officer and co-founder, Glen Boultwood, said the [Maroondah Hwy] hotel is “by far the best quality” in Ringwood “and will withstand the test of time”.

“We commend Rachael and her team for the professionalism is navigating the sale process to ensure it was concluded in a very efficient manner and for building to such a high standard,” the executive added.

“We are delighted to work with EVT on this exciting opportunity and add them to the stable of operators we work with across our hotel portfolio”.

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Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.