This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
IN the largest transaction for the Perth CBD so far in 2023, an A-grade office building at 503 Murray Street has sold for $33.225 million to Properties & Pathways.
The seven-storey 503 Murray Street in the Perth CBD west end, which is now to be known as Westend on Murray, includes contiguous fitted-out side core floor plates, which have limited availability in the market.
Built in 2009, the 7,299sqm building has been well-maintained with the buyer committing to significant upgrades including to the lobby, upgraded end-of-trip facilities, a speculative fit-out on Level 6 and improved sustainability measures.
The building is currently NABERS and BEEC rated with a roadmap in place to transition the property into a carbon neutral building in future.
Property agency Sterling Property, which went independent in July this year after 10 years as LJ Hooker’s commercial franchisee in Perth, managed the off-market sale on behalf of the private seller to Properties & Pathways.
“One of the main factors that appealed to the buyer was that the property, which is just over a decade old, was well built and maintained. In addition to that the improvement in the office leasing market in Perth has been well-documented and I could talk with confidence to this,” said Jack Bradshaw, senior partner at Sterling Property.
“WA’s resource sector has been very resilient and particularly active recently within the western end of the Perth CBD. Perth, comparatively, has also not had to deal with the negative effect of the work-from-home trend which has led to a heightened demand for fitted out quality office space.”
Available areas at the property start at 327sqm and extend up to full floors spanning 1,180sqm, with the entire building available for businesses with larger requirements.
“We identified 503 Murray Street for its outstanding building fundamentals and its sought-after location, access and carparking attributes. Our job is to identify value and then build a strategy to unlock this value during our ownership period. 503 Murray Street presented us the perfect opportunity to do just that, in our own backyard,” said Cal Doggett, managing director at Properties & Pathways.
“Rather than overreacting to the gloomy office headlines from the Eastern states, we are acutely aware of the very positive sentiment in the Perth office market and wholeheartedly believe this asset will over-deliver for our investors with the right strategy implemented and the right select team of professionals to bring it to life.”
The location of the CBD asset will enable tenants to benefit to from links to public transport, parking bay allocations, and additional parking available at nearby QV1 and Elder Street car park.
With the site also placed just 200 metres from childcare facilities and within close proximity to a number of food and beverage offerings.
