Ford Ringwood: Car manufacturer’s Maroondah Hwy dealership building up for sale
Rev-head loving investors and developers are circling a rare opportunity to buy in to the ‘Golden Mile’ of car dealerships in Melbourne’s outer east.
Outer East
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Asian investors with an eye for a potential future overhaul are among those looking to snap up a prime site on Ringwood’s ‘Golden Mile’ of car dealerships.
Agents CBRE are expecting to sell the site of Ringwood’s Etheridge Ford at 495-503 Maroondah Highway for more than $19m, with expressions of interest closing later this week.
The family owned dealership, which also has a service centre in John St, Lilydale, was established in Ringwood in 1978 and has been located on Maroondah Highway since 2004.
Its 14,084sq m site is surrounded by other car manufacturers including Mercedes Benz, Mazda, Nissan and the longstanding Car City car yard.
A flash $42m BMW dealership at 405 Maroondah Hwy is also being built nearby.
CBRE associate director Nathan Mufale said more than 100 expressions of interest had come from investors and developers based locally, interstate and overseas for the site, which was leased to Ford until the end of 2028.
Mr Mufale said the arrangement had driven interest from “value-add investors and future developers looking to unlock potential of the land” once the dealer’s lease ended.
The site’s listing on Commercial Real Estate states it has a “potential redevelopment concept” from architects Elenberg Fraser.
Mr Mufale said the successful buyer could transform the site into a multistorey commercial or retail development, subject to council approval.
“There’s very few opportunities to purchase these assets which come with stable income and large upsides,” he said.
“It’s a great medium-long term investment and they don’t come up very often.”
The dealer is also set to spend about $1m upgrading the showroom in line with Ford’s global standards, and the site’s new buyer can expect to earn more than $755,000 per year in rental income.
Expressions of interest close on Thursday at 3pm and Mr Mufale said the team expected to finalise the site’s sale shortly afterwards.
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