This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Chippendale headquarters of Australia’s largest fintech, Afterpay, has been lobbed to the market by Chris Lock’s IP Generation with hopes of $140 million, and the fund manager has also put forward the first Sydney metropolitan neighbourhood centre for the year.
Afterpay’s home, The Brewery, at 5 Central Park Avenue, is the adaptive reuse project at the Carlton and United Brewery Yard, in the heart of Central Park, and provides a mix of modern, heritage-inspired office and retail spaces.
Headed by architects Tzannes, the project has won multiple awards including a UNESCO award for New Design In Heritage Contexts Cultural Heritage Conservation. As the largest cluster of preserved heritage buildings within the site, it serves as an homage to the brewery that operated on the premises until 2005.
Developed within the $2 billion master-plan precinct crafted by Frasers Property and Sekisui House, the 5,791 sqm Brewery development features an onsite central thermal plant providing electricity, heating and cooling at lower operating costs. Positioned directly opposite UTS, the full base build refurbishment was completed in recent months, targeting 5-Star Green Star and 5-Star NABERS rating. It has 30 basement car parks.
The asset is for sale through Leigh Melbourne, Mark Hansen, Bridhe Woods and Josh Cullen of Cushman & Wakefield and Luke Billiau, James Barber and Kate Low of JLL, who are expecting interest from domestic and international buyers.
It is being offered with a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 6.1 years. Aussie fintech unicorn Afterpay, whose fit-out is scheduled for completion mid-2024, will cover 66% of the office space. Other tenants in the building include MIQ Digital and a Sydney hospitality group that will open two new hospitality and dining concepts across the ground floor and licenced courtyard area.
Melbourne said that as Sydney gears up to become the largest technology precinct in Australia, The Brewery stands to benefit immensely, with commitments from both private and public sectors, with Atlassian to set up their future headquarters in the precinct, and Dexus and Frasers Property developing Central Place.
The NSW government plans to facilitate 250,000 sqm of office space and create 25,000 new jobs by 2036 in the broader Tech Central precinct.
Billiau said Chippendale, alongside its neighbouring city fringe areas, are driven by the “best amenity in Australia, a younger and highly educated workforce, and a broad profile of tenants seeking fringe alternatives”.
“The fringe markets including Chippendale have been winning the war for talent as they capitalise on highly educated occupiers and the supply constraints will drive steady rental growth.
IP Generation is putting the assets are up for sale as buyers and sellers continue an awkward dance of price discovery. Together with the impact of higher interest rates and cost of debt, the gap in value expectations has dragged down Australian commercial real estate transactions to decade lows – transactions slumped by nearly half to $39.6 billion last year, according MSCI.
Richmond Mall on the market
Richmond Mall, in Sydney’s north west outskirts, is a recently refurbished neighbourhood centre is anchored by a high-performing Coles supermarket that has just signed a 10-year lease until 2033 with two further five-year options. Coles historically payS percentage rent and is supported by a mix of 11 convenience specialty retailers.
The asset is 100% occupied and has WALE of more than eight years.
James Wilson and Ben Wilkinson of Colliers and JLL’s Sam Hatcher, Nick Willis, David Mahood and Sebastian Fahey have been appointed to sell 271 Windsor Street, Richmond.
Retail transactions outpaced office and industrial deals in 2023 for the first time since 2004, JLL data showed.
Only two freehold Sydney neighbourhood shopping centres were brought to market publicly in 2023.
“The NSW neighbourhood shopping centre market has remained incredibly resilient, with metro and non-metro neighbourhood shopping centres recording 2023 transactions in the mid 5%, range including Woolworths Bomaderry Shopping Centre and Schofields Village,” Wilson said.
“We anticipate strong engagement from highly capitalised domestic and offshore private capital to continue into 2024 with renewed confidence based on the markets forecast the peak of the interest rate cycle.”
Richmond Mall is for sale via an expressions of interest campaign closing 20th March.
