This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
SHORTLY after its blockbuster acquisition of the Casuarina Shopping Centre, Sentinel Property Group has added to its Northern Territory holdings with the purchase of a Palmerston office building fully leased to the NT government that includes a climate-controlled archive for endangered plant species.
The two-storey Herbarium Building at 4 Mansfield Street in Palmerston City, was purchased from private investors for a passing initial yield of 5.92% through Nigel Sharp of NTC Property.
The transaction is part of $48 million worth of Northern Territory property deals struck by Sharp, which also included the NT’s only Officeworks, Winnellie’s biggest ever sale and the Darwin Centrelink building.
The Herbarium building is on a site area of 940 sqm and offers 1,510 sqm of commercial office and temperature-controlled research accommodation with an archive for 270,000 preserved botanical specimens, utilised for accurate classification and research into plants.
The NT government has a lease until 2032. The Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security occupies the ground floor and the NT Correctional Services sits on level one.
The asset is part of the Sentinel Northern Australia Investment Fund, which also includes a cold storage facility at Wishart in Darwin and property in Mackay.
Sentinel is fresh from the circa $400 million purchase of Casuarina Square shopping centre from GPT Group, marking its biggest-ever acquisition.
Warren Ebert, Sentinel’s CEO, said the group was building a significant property portfolio in Darwin.
“There is very strong demand to purchase good quality, well leased commercial property in the greater Darwin area.” He said the growing demand for investment properties in the greater Darwin region has compressed yields during 2020 and 2021 to as low as 5.30%.
“Sentinel have been highly active in Darwin over the past five years, and we think the Northern Territory has an enormous couple of decades ahead of it due to massive investment in defence infrastructure and resource projects,” he said.
The Palmerston office building is close to the $300 million Gateway Shopping Centre precinct which includes Woolworths, Big W, Event Cinemas and over 75 specialty stores.
