This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CHARTER Hall has made another Hobart asset purchase through one of its unlisted funds, taking its recent spend in the Apple Isle to $66 million.
As reported in Australian Property Journal, the Direct PFA Fund acquired the ANZ Centre office complex at 22 Elizabeth Street and 103 Macquarie Street in the CBD from prominent businessman Robert Rockefeller for more than $50.3 million.
The Charter Hall Direct Diversified Consumer Staples Fund has also just purchased the recently refurbished retail warehouse at 10 Derwent Park Road, in Hobart’s north, for $15.5 million.
The fully leased property has 6,453 sqm of building area on a 1.76-hectare site, with 112 parking spaces, and is 80% occupied by national tenants including Baby Bunting, Supercheap Auto and RSEA, with an 8.8-year weighted average lease expiry.
In the CBD, the Elizabeth and Macquarie Streets property is mostly leased to the Tasmanian state government’s Department of Health and Human Services, which accounts for 81% of gross incomes, as well as Deloitte Services, with a 12-year WALE.
It has a 14-storey A-grade office building integrated with a five-level heritage building, ground floor retail and parking, and a two-storey heritage building constructed in 1866 fronting Macquarie Street.
The vendor, US-born Rockefeller, held the asset in his family company Nekon Pty Ltd, which also owns the Trafalgar Centre. Rockefeller also owns Salamanca Place headquarters of major Hobart newspaper The Mercury, and he is a part-owner of the old Marine Board Building at 1 Franklin Wharf through the Newtown Rockets company.
Charter Hall’s acquisition came as another state government-tenanted building on Macquarie Street, a refurbished 12-level A-grade office tower at number 144, was listed.
The 5,684 sqm building is on a 929 sqm site and has an asking price of $15 million, which would reflect an initial yield of 9.5%, and 12% fully leased.
In June, Tasmanian Treasurer Peter Gutwein revealed the state government’s intention to sell off the landmark Department of Treasury and Finance building at 21 Murray Street, bound by Macquarie Street, Davey Street and Franklin Square, which could add more than $20 million to the state’s coffers.
More centrally, Singaporean developer Fragrance Group has settled on its $9.35 million acquisition of the controversial 179 Macquarie Street, on which it plans to build a new nine-storey, 202-room hotel rising 30 metres next to its Ibis Styles Hobart offering.
It is believed that Fragrance is negotiating with Hilton to open the chain’s first hotel in Hobart.
On Monday night, Hobart City Council rejected a recommendation within a commissioned report by architect Leigh Woolley to lower height restrictions in the CBD to 45 metres, instead opting to have new report compiled detailing social, economic and environmental impacts that height restrictions would have.
Australian Property Journal
