This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CANADIAN investor Quadra Pacific has sold off the second of its listed Brisbane pair of office towers, with Singaporean group ARA Asset Management agreeing to pay $96.5 million for 133 Mary Street, while fund manager EG has acquired a Fortitude Valley island site on the city fringe as a long-term play.
Brisbane office transaction volumes skyrocketed by 60% in 2018 to a decade-high $2.35 billion, on the back of foreign interests doubling their investment in the city.
Quadra Pacific had been in talks with ARA for some months over 133 Mary Street, and had sold its 29-level 288 Edward Street building for $115 million in February to US-based Heitman LLC and Marquette Properties, having listed the properties in July after a $25 million spend on refurbishments.
The 12,976 sqm Mary Street building, on the corner of Edward Street, has 15 levels of office space, ground-floor retail and a basement car park, and traded at a yield of 6.02%.
“Midtown is fast becoming one of the premier locations in the CBD as the position benefits from proximity to the golden triangle as well as the government precinct, which is a key attractor for tenants,” JLL selling agents Seb Turnbull and Luke Billiau said.
Both assets are expected to benefit from the extensive CBD infrastructure pipeline nearby, which includes the Albert Street Cross River Rail Station, Dexus’s Waterfront Place and the $3 billion Queen’s Wharf Development.
The deal marks ARA’s second purchase in Australia, following their acquisition of 300 Queen Street in Brisbane in 2016.
Turnbull and Billiau also negotiated the sale of 288 Edward Street.
In Fortitude Valley, EG paid $27.72 million for the 3,582 sqm property at 801 Ann Street at a net yield of 4.7%. The site has a showroom, car service centre and office, and has a weighted average lease expiry of five years.
Turnbull also negotiated this deal, completed off-market.
It will be the eighth property for EG’s Yield Plus Infrastructure No. 2 fund, which launched nearly three years ago with a $750 million real estate mandate and has now acquired around $330 million of assets across the country.
“The fund strategy is to acquire a portfolio of yield producing real estate with repositioning potential, near new or upgraded infrastructure,” according to EG’s associate director capital transactions, Sean Fleming, and the property has existing DAs for projects of 411 apartments and a commercial scheme of up to 50,000 sqm of gross floor area.
“The high quality functional improvements and location of the island site allow a number of opportunities to enhance the value of the asset over the long-term,” Fleming said. “The property is well located in close proximity to the high-quality James Street precinct. The wider Fortitude Valley area continues to gentrify and will benefit from major infrastructure expenditure, including the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail.”
Australian Property Journal
