This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
MINING magnate and Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart is splashing out $240 million on a Brisbane office building owned by a Charter Hall fund, adding another key asset to her growing sunshine state portfolio.
Her pending acquisition of 175 Eagle Street, reported in The Australian, follows her $100 million purchase earlier this year of the 70 Eagle Street property from US funds group Pembroke.
Forbes currently has Rinehart’s worth listed at US$26.5 billion, or more than A$40 billion. The Australian Financial Review’s 2023 edition of the Rich List put her fortune at $37.4 billion when it was released in May.
The A-grade 175 Eagle Street building is owned by the unlisted Charter Hall Office Trust, which has overhauled the tower during its ownership. The building has 19 office floors, two river promenade retail levels, a mezzanine level, and three basement levels of parking. Aurizon and AON Risk Service are the major tenants.
Her other major office building purchase this year, 70 Eagle Street, is a 14-storey building with 11,000 sqm of floor space and retail on the ground level, and a three-level basement car park. Superannuation fund QSuper was the major tenant but the building is now tipped for repositioning or upgrading.
Desire for an improved human experience is driving tenants towards prime-grade office assets. New JLL data shows Brisbane CBD net absorption was essentially flat in the quarter – but the prime sector saw 32,900 sqm of net absorption, and prime vacancy fell into single-digit territory for the first time since the end of 2019.
Transaction volumes of commercial property in Australia sank to their lowest level for a September quarter in more than a decade, with a “fog” on pricing, economic and geopolitical continuing to hamper deal activity, according to MSCI. Rinerhart’s acquisition of 175 Eagle Street shows there is still appetite from investors for high-grade office buildings.
Rinehart has been an active player in the agricultural real estate sector and owns a large-scale agricultural portfolio. Hot on the heels of selling four S. Kidman & Co cattle stations for more than $200 million, in May Rineheart acquired two Wagyu cattle breeding properties in Queensland and NSW from Canberran billionaire Terry Snow for $80 million.
