Property tycoon Harry Triguboff has tripled his money on the sale of a development site on Sydney’s northern beaches, selling a 3ha plot in Warriewood to listed developer Sunland Group for $18 million.
Mr Triguboff’s Meriton Group purchased the site for $5m in 2009.
It put it back on the market in June after plans for high-density apartment blocks were knocked back. At the time, Mr Triguboff was bullish about the site’s value, advertising it for $25m.
Meriton had proposed to put 280 units on the block, but the local council baulked at any more than 84.
Mr Triguboff, whose company is currently being sued by the City of Sydney over work undertaken without the appropriate certification, frequently criticises local councils for hampering development.
He told a Property Council event last Thursday that the time taken to get approvals meant developers had to buy more land than they could build on.
“It takes so long to get approvals and I like to have continuity,” he said.
“(When I) have more land than I can build on, maybe we’ll stop buying so much.”
Meriton owns a number of other properties in beach-side Warriewood, including 23 and 27 Warriewood Road and 79-91 Macpherson Street.
Sunland chief executive Sahba Abedian said the property was earmarked for an 81 townhouse development, with an end value of around $80m.
The success of Sunland’s $127m Dahlia Residences project in North Kellyville has seen the company increasingly turn to Sydney for further acquisitions.
It already owns a 6ha site in Ingleside, also on Sydney’s north as part of a development pipeline thought to be worth $3.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Meriton has switched its focus to Sydney’s south, paying $190m in August to buy a 4.2ha site in Rosebery from Dexus Property Group. The Rosebery development, Mr Triguboff’s biggest to date, is expected to have an end value of $1bn.
Meriton isn’t the only company to profit from rapidly rising property prices and aggressive developer appetites.
David Devine’s Metro Property Group recently agreed to sell a large parcel of land to Chinese real estate giant R&F Properties for more than $40m, a profit of $24m for Metro after only six months.